


We Interrupt This Program

by MadJJ



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Angie Martinelli Is Maria Stark, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Making Out, My First Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phone Sex, Rating changed at chapter 11, Smut, Tags Contain Spoilers, This is not the slow burn you are looking for, We have now reached third base, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:07:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 35,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21958594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadJJ/pseuds/MadJJ
Summary: Howard and Angie have started dating and it is going GREAT. The only problem is the constant interrupting by exterior forces. Beginning with Angie's roommate, Peggy, who thinks Howard won't be invested in the relationship much longer. To be honest, Angie doesn't really think he will either, but she wants to enjoy it while it lasts.
Relationships: Angie Martinelli/Howard Stark, Howard Stark/Maria Stark
Comments: 27
Kudos: 18





	1. Angie - In One Piece

**Author's Note:**

> You know when you start a fic and think "This will only take about three chapters", but then you write twelve of them? And then you think you'll add just the one and then there's twenty? And then you CAN'T. SEEM. TO STOP.
> 
> Yeah, that.
> 
> Also, this was based on a prompt, but since it's going to be a major spoiler, I'll just give you a link to the list it comes from - in case you want to try and guess ;) :https://honeyboychangbin.tumblr.com/post/182200474739/sentence-starters  
> I'll put the prompt in the end notes once it will no longer be a spoiler.

“I had fun tonight.”

Angie smiled at him, hoping her eyes might convey how much that statement was true. She was not willing to show it too much by stating it too loud though, thinking that it would sent him running.

“Me too. Does that mean we might have a second date?” asked Howard.

Angie’s heart missed a beat. Hope as she might, she did not think he’d actually want to follow this up with another date. Peggy had talked at lengths to her beforehand to explain how allergic to commitment Howard was and what she could expect from accepting a date with him.

“Absolutely! I’d love that!”

Howard leaned forward, and Angie held her breath. He hadn’t tried to kiss her once during their date.

Not when they had had to take cover from the rain under the penthouse and they had laughed together, only stopping when they had realized how close they had gotten.

Not when he had taken her hand inside the restaurant while they were waiting for desert and they had fallen in a comfortable silent, looking into each other’s eyes.

Nor even when he had helped her with her coat and his hands had lingered on her shoulders just a few more seconds than necessary and she had turned around to face him so that they were only inches apart.

Now that they were on the porch of her house though, he got closer, his breath warm against her cheek. His hand went up to cup her jaw and the tip of his fingers dug in her hair.

Her eyes fell to his lips. She wondered how their mouths would feel together – she had never kissed a man wearing a mustache before.

Angie still hadn’t breathed, and if he didn’t kiss her now she thought she might asphyxiate.

The front door opened suddenly, startling both of them apart.

Angie finally let the air in, but the oxygen filling her lungs felt stale and disappointing.

“I’m glad to see you’re back in one piece,” declared Peggy, one hand on the door frame, the other on her hip.

“Hi, English,” said Angie with a voice made hoarse by anticipation.

She cleared her throat.

“Howard was just saying good bye, I’ll be inside in a moment.”

“How nice,” said Peggy, not taking the clue to leave them alone – or not willing to - “was your evening good?”

“Very,” Howard sounded a bit curt.

Maybe he felt just as disappointed as Angie was for the interruption.

They exchanged a few more banalities. She had hoped Peggy would get a clue and leave them alone, but time stretched awkwardly. They were still standing in front of the porch, waiting, to no avail.

Angie eventually joined Peggy inside without kissing Howard, but with the promise of a second date the next week.


	2. Angie - A Little Bruised

“What do you even see in him?”

Angie rolled her eyes. She did not expect Peggy to be such a nagger. It was so strange: even when she was nagging, it didn’t sound like she was. Maybe it was her voice or her beautiful accent that made listening to her talk so nice in spite of what she said.

“He’s a dreamboat, he’s smart, he’s fun, he’s got those very deep dark eyes I could just fall into, he smells like -”

“All right, all right,” Peggy waved her hands to interrupt Angie before she went into more details than she was willing to hear. “But you must see how vulgar he can be with women?”

Angie headed towards the mirror in the corridor leading to the front door. Howard would be there any minute now.

“You’ve told me just how crass you thought he was, yes,” she dismissed while checking her lipstick.

She hoped she hadn’t overdrawn too much.

“But for all you’ve warned me,” she continued, dabbing the edge of her lips, “he’s been very charming – a gentleman you could say.”

She could practically hear the eye roll from Peggy on her right.

“You know he’s the kind of man that takes what he wants and then leaves.”

“Maybe I would be fine with that,” replied Angie, nodding to her reflection.

She looked as good as she could hope to. She didn’t have to time to make any more changes anyway. Maybe she wouldn’t have been doing this at the last minute if Peggy hadn’t been there, pestering her with warnings about her date.

“Angie, please,” sighed Peggy, the weariness in her tone finally getting Angie to stop looking at her reflection.

The aspiring actress turned towards the secret agent, giving her an undivided attention.

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Peggy explained in a soft voice.

Angie smiled and came up to her friend to hug her. She put her chin on Peggy’s shoulder and breathed in her discreet perfume. She felt Peggy relax just a bit between her arm.

“That’s sweet, English. But I’m a big girl, now. And I know better than to hope I won’t get a little bruised by going out with a man like Howard Stark.”

When she stopped hugging her, Peggy’s smile was a bit sad, but then the door bell rang.

Angie’s heart fluttered and she bounced to the door.

“Shall we go?” asked Howard when she opened it.

Angie couldn’t help the wide smile at seeing him. He was always so well put together. The only hints of his chaotic nature in his appearance was in his lopsided smile, the wrinkles in his suit made by his hand in his pocket, the one strand of hair that wasn’t perfectly gelled and brushed back.

Just seeing his eyes, bottomless wells of mischievousness, made Angie’s heart flutter.

“I’m ready if you are!”

They climbed in the car, waving Peggy good bye.

Howard adjusted his rear view before starting the car, and Angie took advantage of the few seconds she had to check the house. No Peggy at the doorsteps, nor at the windows. No spying eyes on them.

“I thought we could go to the movies this time – but I wondered if you would rather eat first or -”

He was interrupted by Angie’s mouth on his. She pressed herself against him, taking advantage of the spacious room they had on the car seats to lean further and put her hands on his shoulders. It felt warm inside the car, but his skin was burning against hers and there was more warmth still in his lips. His mustache brushed against her upper lip, tickling her.

Once he was no longer stunted by surprised, Howard responded with enthusiast, and soon the simple press of their lips turned into a waltz between their tongues. His hand went up to her face, cupping her jaw and digging through her hair much like they had before they were interrupted at the end of their last date. Angie let out a small moan when he sucked at her bottom lip and he groaned back. The softness of the simple press of lips had changed into an intense and passionate exchange that made warmth pool between her legs.

She was very thankful for that second date now.

When they broke apart to catch their breath, Howard asked her:

“What was that for?”

She didn’t hear him right away, the sound of her heartbeat deafening.

“I thought we could catch up where we left off,” she finally said when she understood what he had said.

“Great idea,” he nodded, his stare drifting from her eyes to her lips once more.

He dived in for another kiss, but Angie had to stop him after a few seconds.

“We should probably go before Peggy notices the car still in front and comes to see what going on.”

“You’re right,” he nodded, then he gave a few more pecks to her lips.

Angie laughed and pushed herself off. In her eagerness to kiss him, she had draped her upper body over him and one of her leg had almost gone over his. She turned away, trying not to show how much it felt like her heart was going to jump out of her rib cage.

“I’m thinking movie theater for now,” she said, staring ahead.

“You’re right, dark place, we could take seats at the back,” he approved.

Angie nodded, her chest still rising a bit faster than usual to catch her breath.

“We’ll pick a boring picture to watch,” she nodded, still staring at the windshield.

Distracting him while he drove didn’t sound like a good idea. They’d have a lot of time for that once they reached their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was my first kissing scene (or at least the first I dare publish). I sure hope it gets easier to write with time 0.o


	3. Howard - Too Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We pick up right where we left off, but this time we get a better idea of what Howard is thinking...

Howard didn’t do classic dates. He hadn’t met a lot of people he wanted to seriously date. He loved women, but he simply wasn’t interested in more than a good time spent together before they parted ways.

The women he ‘dated’ knew this. He didn’t have any intention to lead them on, because then there would be crying, hurt feelings and accusations – all things he did not want to waste time on. There were still some women that got the wrong idea or got attached – or that got hurt when he forgot their names – but most of them understood what he wanted from them and what he offered.

Like a transaction.

The downside to this was that when he did want to date someone seriously, as rare an occurrence as it was, his reputation ruined his chances before he even mentioned any idea of romance to the woman in question.

That was why, when he had asked Angie to date him, he had been very happy that she did not outright reject him. He genuinely liked her. She was funny, had a big personality, a passion she was not afraid to make sacrifices for, a sharpness to her mind and, to be frankly honest, she was gorgeous.

Their first date had gone almost perfectly. The only cloud in the sky had been Peggy’s interruption at the end.

Howard had been as good as gold up until that point; no crass remarks, no wandering hands, he had even tried to avoid unsavory innuendos as much as possible. He wanted to be clear in his intentions; he wasn’t just there for sex.

That did not mean he did not find her attractive. At the end of their date, he had tried to kiss her. He was certain she had wanted that too.

Then Peggy had barged in (or rather, out of the house) and had ruined the moment. He had decided not to make the mistake a second time; for their next date, he’d kiss Angie before they got back to her home – if she still seemed so inclined.

He had not expected that the first thing that she’d do would be to throw herself at him in his car before he had even formulated a plan for their evening.

Not that he was complaining.

It was just a bit more difficult to focus on the road ahead when his mind was going back to her lips against his, the weight and warmth of her body against his chest and her peach smell that lingered in his nostrils. She was a few inches away, but the space between them felt like a hundred miles.

Howard pressed down the accelerator. The movie theater wasn’t that far away, thankfully.

“Are you sure you won’t be hungry by the end of the movie? We could still go to a restaurant before,” he asked to distract himself from the tension in the air.

Maybe he was just a little bit hoping that she’d refuse the offer.

“I’m really not hungry for that right now,” she replied with a tone laced with heavy innuendo.

He had to clear his throat. Did she know the extend of the effect she had on him? Her voice had a naturally deeper pitch, but she had made it deeper still, which rendered her intonation even more sensual. He tried to shift in his seat to conceal his erection in a way that would not draw attention to it, but it turned out much easier said than done.

No talking or listening to her voice would probably be the best way to avoid making his situation worse, he decided.

A few minutes later, he was able to walk out of the car without getting publicly embarrassed and opened the door for her.

She smiled brightly up at him, and he admired her appearance once more. Her blue dress had a sweetheart neckline which his eyes were only more drawn to because of the discreetly padded shoulders that seemed to point him in that direction. The rim of her dress stopped just shy of her knees, but hitched a bit higher as she got out of the car. He wondered if she had done so on purpose when she flashed him a mischievous grin painted in bright red.

He offered her his arms, but she laced her fingers with his instead.

“Sorry, my hands are cold,” she said with a press of her palm against his.

The mere contact of skin on skin was arousing.

“I don’t mind.”

 _I could warm you up_ , almost had made it past his lips, but he then decided he’d rather keep that kind of talk for inside the building, once they were in the dark and the only source of light would be the silver screen. It was a shame to want to hide away someone as beautiful as her, but the wicked thoughts she invoked in him were not ones he could so openly display in public.

He had a fleeting regret that he had not brought her back to his own room where he could devour her with his eyes in a bright light, where she’d be completely naked and beckoning him closer with the same grin she had sent him upon revealing her knees. He could already pictured her intense blue eyes turning dark with desire when he’d start caressing her.

He squeezed her hand and headed to the ticket seller. The quicker they were inside, the quicker he could stop caring about his thoughts being too obvious on his face – and the quicker he could get back to kissing her.

He didn’t even pay attention to the movie they had picked. Neither of them wasted time pretending that it had any kind of importance.

The rows in front of them were only occupied by another couple who seemed just as interested as they were by the movie.

They picked the row at the back – but only took one seat. As soon as Howard had settled down, Angie used his lap for sitting and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Now, where were we?” she whispered in his ear.

Her voice sent a shiver down his spine. She had sat almost on his groin, and there was no way she couldn’t have noticed his reaction to her.

“I think there was less talking and more kissing involved,” he growled, not recognizing his own voice.

He was usually playful in his sexual endeavors, but the sound he had just made was almost primal. He chalked it up to spending a whole car ride next to a very eager young woman without being able to do anything about it.

Her fingers brushed against his temple to set a strand of hair back in his place all the while her blue eyes stayed fixed on him. Then, she lowered her head and their lips met again. Her content sigh made him grip her harder, and he dug his fingers at her hip and the others in her hair. Her sharp intake of air didn’t seem to indicate anything but approval, so he bit her lower lip lightly.

She was so warm. Even her cheeks and nose, still a bit cold from being outside, warmed up at his contact. It felt like she wanted to melt into him. His grasp on her jaw loosened so he could trail down to her neck, her shoulder… Her skin was so soft...

Too fast, he thought, even as she pressed herself closer and her thigh brushed against his erection.

He meant to truly get to know her, not just jump her bones in the back of a badly lit theater.

_Then again, she’s not complaining either._

His hand on her hip, listening to the part of him that did not see any point in waiting, inched lower to the rim of her dress to lay on her knees. Nothing too bad, really, just a little brush of skin -

Before his hand had landed on its objective though, a bright flash of light came into Howard’s face.

“Everything all right back here, folks?” asked the usher that was blinding them.

“Everything’s fine,” answered Angie, slipping out of Howard’s lap in a smooth gesture, like there was nothing wrong with the situation to begin with.

The usher nodded, then turned away, ignoring Howard’s murderous glare.

Angie snickered behind her hand.

“Someone was trying to see some action,” she whispered to him. “I did the same when I worked at the movie theater over at the East Village.”

“Ever saw something interesting?”

She pulled a face.

“Maybe a bit more than twelve-year-old me was ready to handle.”

“Didn’t think they’d take ushers that young.”

“I lied about my age. Looking back I don’t think they believed I was sixteen, but they probably didn’t care.”

The usher was long gone now, and their faces were still inches away from each other as they whispered their conversation. No one would have complained if they had been screaming at the top of their lungs. Howard liked it better this way though; he enjoyed their proximity. There was a small barrier between them now, as Angie was still in her own seat.

“You have some lipstick there,” she brushed his mouth underneath his mustache.

“You don’t like it? I’ve been told I looked quite fetching in red.”

Angie burst out laughing and tried to hide it behind her hand.

“Red’s not your color. I’m thinking pink,” she said between two snickers.

Then, once she had regained her calm, she whispered in a husky voice:

“Maybe I should wear that color for next time.”

“I like that idea,” he whispered back as he got closer, “but this date is not over yet.”

Kissing over the armrests of their seats wasn’t as comfortable as when she was in his lap, but maybe it was for the best. He had every intention of taking his time.


	4. Howard – Fish Soup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard is determined to make this third date one where he can actually get to know Angie better.

Howard readjusted his tie in the rear view window. It was his third date with Angie; he wanted to look presentable.

This time, he had picked a restaurant to take her where he knew they wouldn’t be derailed from their conversation. As much as he enjoyed kissing her, he wanted to get to know her more.

Angie had mentioned loving fish soup growing up, so he was taking her to a seafood restaurant. A very reluctant Peggy had accepted to discuss his plans with him in advance – the British woman was as averse to Howard dating her roommate as she had been the first time she had heard he had asked her out. Despite her misgivings about him, Howard still believed he could trust her words when she had said a restaurant too fancy would make Angie uneasy. He wanted to show off a little, but he could always do that later in their relationship. So far, his girl hadn’t been complaining about how low cost all of their dates had been.

He was on his way to ring the bell when she got out of the house, standing in the front door and waving goodbye to her roommate. Howard saw the door close on Peggy’s worried face before Angie turned around to smile brightly at him.

“You saw me coming?”

“I was looking through the window,” she pointed at the second floor, “and I recognized your car. What are we doing today?”

“I think you’ll like it.”

She clapped her hands when they arrived at the restaurant and she saw the seashells decorations.

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to come here!”

He helped her out of the car and handed the keys to a young man whose eyes went round when his saw his Tucker. Howard grabbed him before he jumped behind the wheel.

“One in fifty one, you don’t want make a scratch on it,” he warned him, trying not too sound too harsh, before letting go of his shoulder.

The Tucker 48 was originally meant to enter larger production, but after the company that made them had gone bankrupt, only fifty one of them had been assembled. Howard, a car collector, couldn’t have passed up the opportunity to own one.

“Sir, yes sir,” nodded the boy, still amazed by the car.

“He looks like you’ve just given him his Christmas candy,” commented Angie as they saw him drive away.

“You’re not big on cars, are you?” he asked, guessing she didn’t know about the car’s backstory.

They started heading inside the restaurants, one that was a bit modest for his usual standards but still put stars in her eyes.

“Not really. I do know about a certain ‘car of the future’ that was promised by a certain inventor, a few years ago, at a certain event...” she teased.

Howard groaned.

“I made the flying car work, I’ll have you know. But turns out that adapting every road in the country to a new mode of transportation that was deemed ‘unstable’ by the nitwits in charge is not any easy feat. Commercialization of that car isn’t about to happen. Making them change their mind isn’t high on my priorities either, I have much more pressing projects.”

The waiter, a man with silver temples standing taller than them by a head, lead them to their table.

“Oh, but if I wanted to go on a flying car-ride right now, that could happen?” asked Angie as he pulled her seat for her.

He leaned closer to whisper in her ear in a conspiratorial manner:

“Only if you don’t care about violating a few laws.”

She smelled of peaches.

He went to his own seat, already regretting losing her proximity.

“I could be interested,” admitted Angie. “I’ve been wondering when I’d get to see a working hovercar in action ever since the World Exposition of Tomorrow. Was it three or four years ago?”

“Five, I believe. You were in the assistance for that demonstration then?”

“Yes. It was very impressive. And funny.”

The embarrassment at the failed demonstration still stung a bit, especially when she was still amused by it years later and it seemed to be the main thing she remembered – the car had hovered! It was simply supposed to get back down a few seconds earlier but he had been distracted by the eager reaction of the public.

He meant to explain just that – and also that he did have a model that could fly for about thirty minutes without a hitch now - when the waiter that had lead them to their tables barged in.

“Have you decided what you wanted yet?” he asked with a syrupy smile.

Howard decided then and there that he did not like that man. Maybe it was his expression, or the way he held himself, or the way all of his attention was focused on Angie who seemed none the wiser as to the way he leaned ever so slightly in her direction or eyed her up and down.

It would not do to overreact though, and so Howard simply informed him in a calm voice:

“Not yet, but we’ll call you when we have.”

The waiter completely ignored his clear invitation to leave and got a step closer to Angie to point at something on the menu.

“This soup is delicious, it’s our specialty.”

Howard ground his teeth together. The specialty was the reason why he’d pick the restaurant in the first place, but he meant to point it out himself.

“We’ll consider it, thank you,” smiled Angie and dismissing him in a much gentler manner than he would have.

She didn’t seem to have noticed, and so they resumed their conversation after having their pick and ordering their meals and drinks.

“So you were at the World Exposition. Interested in innovations?”

“I suppose there was a little of that, but mostly it’s because my brother took me there. He always insists on me learning more things.”

She leaned on the table with a sigh.

“That’s not a bad thing to encourage,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but he’s very selective in what he wants me to learn. Anything related to cinema is worth close to nothing to him for example.”

Howard could not help but laugh. His production company had already brought him back a juicy profit, even though every critics had agreed that his movies were unwatchable – probably too advanced for them to grasp.

“He must be unaware of the weight in stocks that a movie company has then.”

“You try to tell him that,” Angie laughed with him. “I’ve given up on the idea. The debate on the matter quieted down between the two of us after he went to Europe.”

“He was enlisted then?”

“Yes, set to leave the day after the exposition actually. He got back but… Badly injured. Doing better now, thank God, but he lost his hearing on one side and he’s gonna limp for the rest of his life.”

Before Howard could express his sympathies, the waiter arrived with their wine and plates. He would have commanded the rapidity of the service if it wasn’t for the very bad timing he had. Surely, he _must_ have noticed how they were about to take each other’s hands and had been in the middle of a serious conversation?

A quick look around informed Howard that there were very few other patrons in the restaurant, which meant that the waiter’s hastiness was completely unnecessary.

And did he think Howard didn’t notice him stepping ever closer to Angie whenever he got the chance? There was no need for their faces to be that close when the waiter leaned down to put her bowl in front of her. Yet his date remained completely unaware.

“I’m sorry to hear that about your brother,” he picked up where they left off once the annoyance was gone.

“Oh, I know he got lucky,” Angie waved her hand.

He saw right through her apparent careless demeanor though. She cared about her brother and was truly concerned about his well-being, but didn’t want to linger on it.

Time to change the subject then.

“You’ll tell me what you think of the soup.”

“Oh, I can give you a taste,” she smiled.

Howard, who had been taking a bite off his own meal, a roasted sea bass, almost choked.

Angie let out a melodic laugh.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even realized what I said before it was out -” she cut herself off with another bout of laughter.

Howard smiled even as he had to drink some wine to stop himself from suffocating.

“I’ll taste the soup,” he finally managed to say.

It took them several attempts as Angie was trying to hold the spoon for him and they both broke down in laughter, but finally Howard took the spoon himself and managed to sip some of the soup.

“It is good,” he admitted.

“I can give you another taste,” she said cheekily, which started another bout of laughter.

They had to stop when the waiter was back and asked:

“Is everything going all right here?”

“Everything is doing swell,” Howard had to loosen his grip on his knife as his fist had tighten by reflex.

Sure, it wasn’t unusual for a waiter to check on a table, but the guy must have noticed he was interrupting, right?

Howard glanced at Angie. He remembered how she had talked about the customers where she worked. She probably wouldn’t take it so well if he started being rude to the other man, not when she wasn’t aware of his behavior.

“The food is great,” Angie beamed at the waiter.

 _She’s simply being nice because she knows the job he does_ , Howard told himself, a spike of jealousy making him wish that she would look at him like that instead. He tried to calm down, knowing that she had been giving him her undivided attention since the beginning of their date.

As their meal progressed, their conversation jumped from topic to topic, sometimes pure fun, sometimes more serious, broaching the subject of their professional and even their personal aspirations.

The only dark cloud on the horizon was the constant apparition of the waiter. At one point, Howard pretended to leave for the bathrooms to corner the man and have a discreet talk with him.

“I’d like you to stop coming by our table. Ask a colleague of yours to replace you.”

He slipped him a fifty dollar bill.

“Keep the change, and learn your place.”

The other, older man, nodded somberly and took the money, a defiance still in his eyes.

A fifty dollars bill really wasn’t all that much to Howard. It was also preferable to causing a scene by the use of violence – he was still trying to impress Angie and a fist fight probably wouldn’t do.

(he did wish he could have swung a good right into that smug bastard’s face though)

The rest of the evening went much smoother when another waiter – a younger man that reminded him of Jarvis – finished waiting their table.

His car was in perfect shape when they got out, the boy from earlier fussing to rub a spot near the tail light.

“Took good care of it for me, son?”

“Sure, sir, I did!” the young man startled and stumbled on his words in his eagerness.

“You liked driving it?”

He shook his head with enthusiasm.

Once they were back in the car, he noticed Angie’s eyes on him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

She scooted closer and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“You’re sweet.”

Their kiss on her doorstep was much more heated and a perfect conclusion to their night.

“I wish you could come inside,” she whispered to him when they had to break their kiss for air.

The familiar rush of blood to his groin made him shift.

As much as he loved Peggy, he really wished Angie didn’t have a roommate right now.

“God, me too,” he admitted.

“Maybe next time...” she bit her lip and walked backwards, not breaking eye contact before she was behind the door.

“Next time,” he muttered to himself with a smile.

There was a dance in his step when he got back to his car.


	5. Angie - Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angie is in charge of planning their date and she has a precise goal in mind. Now, if only they had easy and cheap delivery services for food in the late 1940s...

To the second date had followed the promise of a third. They had spent the whole time kissing in the back of the theater; the room had been practically deserted aside from another couple, so Angie thought they could have done whatever they wanted and no one would have noticed.

While kissing Howard had certainly made her want for more though, things had remained chaste. Well, not chaste per say, but no hand had lingered under belts or around her chest. Even if the room hadn’t been in the dark, no one could have complained about public indecency.

Angie was almost disappointed. The prospect of another date calmed her fears though.

She was surprised. She had believed that, with so long spent in her company without any actual sex, Howard would have left a long time ago. She did not even expect him to be faithful. She knew who she started dating when she had accepted his invitation.

The third date didn’t involve nearly as much kissing and essentially consisted of the two of them talking and laughing over a delicious meal at a restaurant of Howard’s choosing. She had enjoyed herself and had been very disappointed when it was over. Even the eager good bye kiss exchanged at the doorstep hadn’t been enough to lift her spirits before he left.

Angie had wanted to invite him back at the house, but Peggy had been there. They had rescheduled for today.

Angie kept checking her appearance in the mirror. Her outfit had been carefully picked: not too overt nor prude, something comfortable yet elegant. She could slip out of her cardigan in no time and her shirtwaist dress was just as easy to open and get rid off.

She wondered if it was obvious just how much sex had been on her mind when she had picked her clothes that morning.

It had been a little while since her last time, but there was also something about Howard that sent her heart racing and fluttering all at once. The poor thing constantly seemed confused between the two states – maybe having sex with him would simply kill it dead for good.

She eyed the rim of her dress. It was just shy of her knees; she had had to shop for hours to find something that was in her price range, fit her criteria of alluring yet not too overt and looked good on her.

_No backing down now._

She was supposed to be the one choosing where they’d go today.

She had chosen the house.

Peggy wouldn’t be home until much later; she had warned Angie that she had a stake-out mission and wouldn’t be there when she came home, so Howard and Angie would have the whole house to themselves for the whole evening.

The most difficult part was to not lose her nerves.

Also, she realized when a faint burning smell floated to her nostrils, not to burn the dinner.

She hurried towards the kitchen and got her cake out of the oven. It was horribly charred. It was hard too: something one could have used to knock someone out with.

 _I suppose I’ll have to be more inventive for desert_ , Angie thought.

It wasn’t too bad, she already doubted that at that point in the dinner she could have focused much longer on actual food.

The main course just needed reheating and the appetizer was ready to be served.

The door bell echoed throughout the house and Angie’s heart jolted again. She put a hand over her chest while she headed to the front door.

 _Don’t croak on me just yet, I’m going to need you a little while longer_ , she thought before opening to Howard with a welcoming smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

There was a beat of nervous silence during which she couldn’t help but stare at him. Every time she thought she had gotten used to the smirk and the presence he had, she was somehow surprised all over again.

Every man she had met so far who had worn a suit had looked like a kid putting on a disguise or unattainable and pretentious. Howard made it seem natural – and elegant, like a movie star.

He looked down and noticed:

“You’re not wearing your coat – it’s cold outside -”

“Oh, we’re not leaving.”

She opened the door a little wider:

“I thought we could stay in today!”

She smiled wide, but her hand shook with a bit of worry before she grasped the side of the door to hide it. She hoped it didn’t sound weird – or that he wouldn’t find her cooking too mediocre, or -

“Crap!” she exclaimed suddenly.

“What is it?”

“I forgot to put an alarm! I need to check on the main course!”

She fled to the kitchen, but thankfully she hadn’t let it in too long. She wished she could have afforded a cook at home, or even that she could have paid someone to bring her the food already done – but that was either out of her price range or it would never have looked good enough for the dinner she wanted.

She then realized that she had left her date at the door without knowing if he agreed with her plans, and hurried back to the front of the house. She stopped when she saw him settling at the dinner table.

“Is the dinner okay? And I assume we’d settle here but I can always move -”

“Sure, go ahead, make yourself at home!”

Seeing him much more relaxed helped her calm her nerves, and she felt ridiculous for the rapid-fire way her words had left her mouth.

“You all right, Angel?”

“Yeah, I’m… Wait, ‘Angel’?”

“You don’t like it?”

“Ah – no, it’s fine, I was just a bit surprised.”

It was more than fine, she realized as one of her hands wiped her brow. Her skin was dry, but she was probably heating the whole room with how her face was burning.

How come she could make out with him in the back of a theater like it was nothing one moment, then be so flustered by a simple word just a couple of days later?

“I’ll be back in a minute,” she gestured to the kitchen.

She had to fetch the appetizers and get her face to stop doing that.


	6. Angie - Mood-Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angie comes up with a good alternative to desert.

The dinner had went well. _Really well_. Their conversation never lulled to a stop, always kept going on various subject. She would talk about her auditions, he would talk about his inventions; she would tell him about the restrictions brought on by the war, he would recount a story from when he flew airplanes or helped Captain America with his technology. He didn’t speak solely about the captain though; all the members of the Howling Commando were praised in a way or another – including Peggy, who he considered an honorary member even if he excluded himself from that designation.

He was finishing the recounting of a story about Dum-Dum Dugan, who he had seen the week previous, when Angie realized both of them had been done with their meals for about thirty minutes.

She got up from her seat to clear the table, still listening to his story while smiling. She was pleased to see him help her, and soon all the dirty dishes were in the kitchen sink.

They stood next to it with their respective glasses of wine.

“I’m sorry about the cake,” said Angie, looking over the plate with the burned desert.

“You’re sure sure it’s not salvageable?”

He initiated a move towards the cake as if to taste it, and she swatted at his hand playfully.

“Don’t do that, you’ll get food poisoning!”

He laughed but gave up on his attempt, leaning back against the kitchen worktops.

“All right, all right. I had enough with the meal anyway. It was delicious.”

Angie blushed. She wasn’t sure the very simple mashed potatoes, roasted beef and carrots deserved such praise; certainly Jarvis prepared him much better meals back at home.

“Thank you.”

“I hate to see this date end though -”

“It doesn’t have to!”

Angie bit her lip, aware of how eager she had sounded. Not very smooth of her. She cleared her throat discreetly and put down her glass to clear her hands.

One step forward, and she was leaning closer, looking at him from underneath her lashes.

“Do you really have to go now?”

Without his eyes leaving her, he put down his own glass down behind him.

“I guess I could stay a little while longer. Did you have something in mind?”

“Maybe...” she whispered, close enough now that their breath mingled.

All the awkwardness from before had faded away, and she was back on taking the initiative.

They had to take the stairs but they managed to reach her room without much physical damage or loss of clothing, but the moment Angie closed the door behind her, she got out of her cardigan and threw it somewhere behind her.

They might have landed on her bed a bit messily, and she might have hit his chin with her head and him her shin with his foot, but, eventually, they were both making out heavily on her mattress.

It got really good when his hands started roaming over her. From underneath him, she encouraged his exploration by letting go of his hair with one hand and grabbing his arm to direct him to open up her dress. He had gotten rid of his suit jacket himself, but he was still too overdressed for her taste.

She sneaked her free hand past his shirt while he did the same, the fingers of her other hand still raking through his hair and pulling him closer. Soon they were half-naked, his shirt on the floor and hers pooling around her waist.

His breath hitched when his fingers brushed her hip underneath her dress. He stopped kissing her a moment:

“You’re not wearing any -”

She captured his lips with her again, not waiting for the end of his sentence.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” she said between two pecks along his jaw, “I was optimistic about tonight.”

“All forgiven,” his voice was a bit strangled.

Angie smiled against the side of his neck. Things were going exactly as she hoped they would.

She started undoing his belt, grinding her teeth in frustration when it opposed some resistance. The anticipation would kill her before her hammering heart gave out on her. Ever since their skin had begun touching when he had taken off his shirt, she had felt her own temperature rise dramatically. He was busy unclasping her bra, his expert fingers brushing against her spine and giving her shivers.

She felt hot, but still too cold, and so she pressed herself closer as her hands finally unlocked the barrier of his belt.

She could feel his erection through his boxers and almost let out a strangled squeal at the contact. His own breath hitched as it had before, and she recognized the sound as one he made when he was particularly excited.

Her hand cupped his front just as a loud noise from downstairs made them both freeze.

The door opening, then closing, quickly followed by a familiar voice:

“Angie?”, Peggy’s voice carried throughout the house – it was incredible how well sound traveled through the walls. “Are you there? The lights are still on.”

Angie was taken aback by how quickly Howard’s erection went limp at the sound of her roommate’s voice.

 _A complete mood-killer for him then. Good to know_ , she thought.

His expression had also gone sour.

“I thought she wasn’t supposed to be there tonight,” he whispered to her, as if Peggy could hear him from downstairs.

It wouldn’t have surprised Angie if she could have.

Her heart sank a little. She hoped he wouldn’t be angry with her.

“She wasn’t!” Angie protested as Howard pushed himself off of her.

She immediately felt a rush of cold where his body had been touching hers.

Peggy brought the answer to their surprise in her next sentence:

“My stake-out was a bust. Angie? How did your date with Howard go?”

Howard had begun gathering his things and putting his shirt on, and Angie quickly followed his lead. She did not want to be seen by Peggy half-naked in her room with an equally half-naked Howard.

“It- it went fine English!” she yelled at the door.

It would be weird if Peggy saw them emerge out of her room but Angie hadn’t responded to her inquires beforehand.

Thankfully, it was almost as easy to get back in her dress than it had been to get out of it. Howard was readjusting his tie around his neck while Angie opened a drawer in her dresser. She didn’t think Peggy would particularly notice, but it would be uncomfortable to walk around without panties when a wet spot had started forming between her legs.

She heard Peggy’s steps coming up the stairs at a casual pace, slow enough for her to check her surroundings. She quickly grabbed her bed sheets to throw them back on her bed – she wasn’t the kind of person to make her bed every morning, so it was fine if it was just bundled on her mattress and not on the floor. She turned towards Howard and asked in a hurried whisper:

“How do I look?”

He smiled at her.

“Perfect.”

A wave of relief washed over her. He didn’t seem disappointed with her at all.

His hair stuck out a bit though, so she quickly passed her hands through it to comb them back, smiling brightly at him. He shared her mirth with a smirk and glowing eyes that looked almost brown in this light.

A knock came at her door, and Angie went to open it.

“Oh,” Peggy was surprised at seeing Howard there. “I didn’t think you were still there.”

“I was just showing him the auditions I was considering for next week,” Angie easily lied, pointing at the newspaper on her desk where several ads had been circled.

“Didn’t have the time to see much of it though, we just arrived,” Howard lied just as easily.

If Peggy suspected what had been going on a few minutes ago, she didn’t show it.

“I’m sorry to interrupt the end of your date then,” she said, stepping back, “I’ll leave you two to it.”

“Don’t worry, Peg. I was just about to leave,” reassured Howard.

Angie was a bit disappointed to see him go, but she wasn’t going to contradict him now.

She accompanied him to the door so they could exchange a few more words alone.

“I’m sorry about Peggy -” started Angie.

“Don’t worry about it, Angel. It wasn’t your fault.”

He leaned closer to kiss her lightly on the cheek.

“I had a very nice time,” he whispered in her ear. “And, next time, maybe we could finish what we started somewhere we won’t get interrupted.”

His hand had sneakily made its way to rest against her hip. It felt like fire spreading across her skin, even through the fabric of her dress.

“Next time,” she agreed breathlessly.


	7. Howard - Pale Comparison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unfortunate and unforseen contract forces Howard to postpone his plans with Angie.

To his disappointment, Howard had to cancel his next date with Angie. He had business-related matters to deal with in Minneapolis – matters that required his physical presence. He hated when contractors couldn’t get over themselves and asked for him to be there, as if seeing him signing the damn papers would be different than just receiving them by mail.

He already knew he’d have a busy month ahead of him. All of his travels had been booked for after the date he had planned with Angie though. He meant to tell her that he’d be gone a few weeks in person, and make up for his absence to come with a memorable date. Instead, he had had to stick with an impersonal and rapid call. Angie had been understanding, but he could hear that she was just as disappointed as he was.

He would buy her something nice for when he’d get back, he promised himself. He was bound to find something in one of the many cities he visited.

Howard did not expect to miss her as much as he did. He _knew_ he would miss her, but not that every time he’d see a woman dressed in a blue dress he’d be reminded their second date at the movie theater. Or that every meals would feel tasteless in comparison to the stupid fish soup they had shared. Or that he’d wish she was the one who had prepared the mashed potatoes he had on the plane to Portland, even though those were sprinkled with truffles chips and Angie’s dinner had had the burnt smell of her cake clinging to it.

Or that every woman he’d meet would pale in comparison to the memory he had of her gripping his hair from underneath him and trying to get as close as she could to him.

He was never planning on cheating on her, but he at least had expected to _want_ to. Now he just compared any woman who smiled at him to her soft skin and long limbs and pink lips and peach smell and -

He was a bit cranky. It was harder to crack jokes when he wouldn’t hear her laugh to them.

“You’ve worn the same outfit thrice this week,” had noticed Jarvis in his usual flat, detached, British tone that said he was criticizing him but at the same time showed concerned.

One day he’d have to ask his butler how he could express so much without expressing anything.

But yes, he had lost some of his attention to details because he was so focused on getting the task at hand done so he could get back to New York.

He still hadn’t found a gift to bring back either! Jarvis had mentioned the Stark’s Special, which he had scoffed at. That was a _parting_ gift, not something you gave to someone you planned on seeing again!

Plus, Angie had mentioned not wearing too much jewelry because it was unpractical while she was at her job. And he knew her exact measurement – he had acquired quite the eye for it over the years – but not every women appreciated to receive clothing. That could have been interpreted as a sort of instruction as to what to wear.

He did not remember the last time he had been pondering so much about what to give a woman.

He was a week away from the end of his planned stops across the country and feared there would still be a few unforeseen events keeping him from New York. The only upside to this long absence was that once it was over, he probably wouldn’t have to bother with business trips in a long time.

They had to stop at Los Angeles, to Jarvis’ dismay as he was already rumbling about seeing Bernard again. Something at Stark Pictures had come up; he had to look over the renewal of several contracts and an actress had been clamoring that she needed to see him for quite some time now.

He did not remember ever fooling around with that Gilly Bailey, but as Jarvis liked to remind him, his memory was not the best when it came to the name of his conquests.

He was scheduled to meet her later that day, but as he made his way to the main office in order to look over the contracts he needed to see, she appeared in front of him.

“Howard!” exclaimed the petite woman like she knew him.

Now, he might not have remembered her name even if they had slept together before, but he would have remembered her generous proportions – _her naked hip wouldn’t burn against the palm of his hand like Angie’s, her skin wouldn’t taste just the tiniest bit like butter cream, she wouldn’t moan in a voice quite as smoky_ – so he was fairly certain they hadn’t met before.

Which begged the question; why did she call him by his first name?

“Howard, dear,” she grabbed him by the arm, “I’ve been asking to see you for _weeks_ , and finally you’re here!”

He blinked down at her, trying to decipher if he was just imagining the hint of deviousness in her smile.

He was about to do something – maybe ask her to let go of him, maybe tell her he still had things to do before he could talk to her, maybe take a step back so her powerful perfume wouldn’t make his head swing as much – when he heard the tell-tale sound of a camera taking a photograph.

As if on cue, the Bailey girl got up on her tip-toes and grabbed his face to make up for the distance. She then planted her lips on his while the paparazzi continued firing his camera at them.


	8. Angie - As Expected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angie knew this was coming - but there's something else she certainly did not expect.

Angie did not get to see Howard for the three weeks that followed their last date. Howard had called to cancel their date a few days before it was supposed to happen and had apologized. He had to fly to Minneapolis under short notice for the signing of a contract and did not know when he would be back. Apparently, there was a lot to do in lots of cities all across the country, though he did not have the time to give more details.

Angie understood, of course, he was a busy man. She wished he could have stayed, but she understood.

Her tear ducts didn’t seem to have understood, as she was crying in her bed the day they were supposed to have their date. It only lasted a couple dozen of minutes, thankfully, and she quickly threw herself into work to forget how much she missed him.

Not her job as a waitress, of course. She went on a frenzy hunting down auditions. Every time her mind drifted back to Howard, she didn’t stop until she had a new audition ad circled in her newspaper. She had a lot of thoughts about Howard, and so she bought multiple newspapers, which accumulated to an impressive height on her desk.

Peggy even expressed her concerns towards her behavior – she had skipped on sleeping her fair share of hours in order to attend auditions.

She was fine. Really. She was.

She had known better when she had accepted the first date, she recalled.

And she knew that, after already three weeks without seeing him, there was no use clinging to hopes that he’d come back to her with a bouquet of flowers and that they’d catch up like no time had went by. He had probably found someone else by now – which, again, she was fine with. She knew it was coming from the start.

She received a very concrete confirmation of her suspicion when she bought another newspaper to scan it for auditions. Angie only saw it once she was home; it wasn’t on the first page. Once she had sat down at her desk, she flipped the pages to reach the one featuring the ads. A photograph caught her eye, and she stopped on the article. The headline ran in large letters on top of it:

**Howard Stark’s Salacious Affair With Up And Coming Actress Gillian Bailey**

Underneath was plastered the face of a woman Angie had never seen before, her arms thrown around one very angry Howard staring at the camera he was trying to block with his hand. The woman’s lipstick seemed to be smeared across his lips and cheek.

Nothing surprising there, Angie repeated to herself. She knew this was coming.

She moved on to the page that was of concern to her without reading the article, and started scanning the page for something that could be of interest.

Five minutes later, she realized the pen she was using to circle the ad was pressed so hard against the paper and that she had repeated the motion so much that the paper was ripped. That might even have left a trace on the wood of the desk, she thought.

The sound of her own breathing was haggard to her own ears, and when she brought her hand to her face, it became wet with her tears.

“I knew this would happen,” she told herself out loud, but her voice was interrupted by sobbing hiccups and trembled with every syllable. “I – I knew it f-f-from the s-start...”

She wept herself to sleep that night, feeling stupid for wearing her emotions on her sleeve.

Peggy didn’t give Angie the ‘ _I told you so_ ’ that she was expecting, even when, the morning that followed her discovery, she came to breakfast with her eyes rimmed with red. Her roommate also didn’t ask what had been the cause of her breakdown, choosing a neutral subject instead, so Angie knew that Peggy had seen the article as well.

They were clearing the table when Peggy told her:

“If you want to talk about it… I can listen. Without giving any judgmental comment. I promise.”

Angie nodded, giving Peggy a pale excuse of a smile, and breathed in deeply.

“Thanks, English.”

She didn’t feel like talking about it though, not yet. Just as she was heading out of the kitchen to finish getting ready for work, the phone on the wall rang.

Her heart jolted in the same motion her hand followed to pick it up. It quickly quieted down when the voice on the other side wasn’t Howard’s. She didn’t know why she’d expect it – he didn’t owe her anything after all, did he?

“Miss… Angela Martinelli?”

“Y-yes, it’s me. I prefer Angie.”

“Oh. Well, Miss Angie, you came to us last week for an audition?”

The bird inside her rib cage flapped its wind once more.

“Yes?”

“We’d like to see you again to discuss your availability. We’d like to offer you a position as an understudy for the role of Anna. If you’re still interested?”

Angie turned toward Peggy, who looked at her with curious eyes, and open her mouth in a silent scream of pure glee. Her friend seemed utterly confused, until Angie finally manage to respond:

“Of course I’m still interested! I’d love to be the understudy for Anna!”

Peggy’s jaw went slack and her face soon looked like what Angie felt.

Angie miraculously remained calm enough for the rest of the call until she hung up and both women hugged. Angie apologized for Peggy’s hearing, which probably got damaged while she was in the process of squealing of delight in her ears.

“We need to celebrate!”

“Can we celebrate tonight? I’m inviting everyone I know – except my parents, I want a party that you don’t invite your parents to –” Angie could not stop talking in a rapid-fire, “-and I want to celebrate until I can’t stand either because I’m too drunk or because I’m too tired to dance -”

“Yes! I’m taking a day off tomorrow!” declared Peggy with a wide smile.

“Really? You never take a day off!”

“They can function without me for a day! This is wonderful news, you deserve a party that will shake the walls of this house!”

Angie didn’t know if Peggy was so willing to go wild because she had looked so sad that morning, but she wasn’t about to protest. A party was just what she needed to feel better after those rough few weeks.


	9. Howard - Party Crasher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard realizes it's been three weeks since he last spoke to Angie.

There had been a lot of scandalous photos taken of Howard in the past. He even collected the articles that described his behavior to put them in a file. He had found it hilarious at the time.

It was understandable, then, that Jarvis was so surprised at his reaction when the photo got published in a journal.

“An official statement, sir?”

Howard was holding the offending article between his hands and pointed at the girl on the photograph.

“Yes. I want it to be clear that I am not involved in any way with that actress.”

Jarvis stared at him and blinked slowly.

“… I don’t understand, sir, you’ve never been bothered by the press’ attention. I seem to recall you welcomed it too.”

“Not this time, Jarvis.”

He put the journal down. That was just one photograph, one article, lost somewhere between the pages. Surely, it would be very unlucky if she did see it… But he knew Angie collected newspapers in her search of auditions.

“If I may sir, an official statement might just attract more attention to this.”

Howard sighed and his shoulders slumped. He knew the butler was right, of course.

“… Fine. Fine, no official statement. Let’s just ignore this and… Move on.”

The issue should have ended there. He should have let it go, finish his business before he went back to New York to reunite with Angie, but…

He was worried. They hadn’t communicated once since he had left. He had been too busy, or the time was never right because of the time difference… He wanted to see her.

The morning that followed the publication of the photograph in the newspaper, he got up from his bed and took a split decision. He packed his bags and called the airport to have his private plane prepared. He’d fly it himself; it had been a while since he was the one behind the windshield.

Once Jarvis realized what he was doing, the butler tried to reason with him.

“Sir, you still have an appointment in an hour -” he argued in a hurry, following him while he was loading the trunk of his car.

“We’ll reschedule!”

Bernard the flamingo was inconspicuously pacing across the lawn, observing the scene playing in front of Howard’s L.A. residence.

“But sir, there’s only a week left -”

Howard shut down the trunk and climbed behind the wheel.

“And yet I’m already bored just thinking about it!”

Bernard inched closer.

“But sir, your afternoon meeting -”

Howard shut the door close and pulled down his glasses on his nose.

“You’ll go for me, I know I can trust you to take the best decisions!”

He turned the key in the ignition and a cloud of dust started forming behind the car.

“But sir! You haven’t taken your breakfast or even combed your hair!” Jarvis called after him before Bernard jumped on his back.

Howard ignored him, his next objective in mind.

Flying a plane had always been one of his greatest joy. There was an incomparable feeling of freedom you felt when you saw the expanse of the sky that spread before you, only to be shared with the most adventurous birds or the clouds floating gently around you. He had fallen in love with it since the first time he got even remotely close to getting a plane off the ground.

Far from the familiar feeling though, he was nagged all throughout his flight by the uncomfortable anticipation of his reunion with Angie.

Three weeks was a long time, he realized it now. And he had never decided on a gift to bring her. What if she closed the door on his face?

What if Peggy was the one to answer the door? He’d never make it further than the stoop.

Before he knew it though, he was standing in front of the house the two women shared. It had been so simple getting here, he wondered why he hadn’t made the trip sooner. Well, aside that the sky had now turned black and that they ought to be preparing to go to sleep at this hour.

They were not though. Not with all the lights turned on and the music he could hear coming from the back of the house. What was going on here?

He rang the bell and waited, hoping he had been heard. A few minutes later, the door did open.

Seeing her again after so long was strange, like waking up from a dream that vaguely resembled reality but was a bit blurry at the edge or lacked the precise details that made you aware that was you saw was real.

Her blue eyes sparkled with life with the two elegant curves of her eyebrows high above them. Her pink lips were drawn in an impish smile. The light brown curls tucked behind her ears bounced as she stopped at the door, and her chin lifted upwards a little, as she always seemed to be looking up. Even her cheeks were made for joy; waiting for a chaste kiss of affection.

He had somehow forgotten how lovely she was.

She was smiling with that warm, welcoming expression of hers, at least until she realized that it was him standing at her doorstep. Then the expression became set on her features, like her face didn’t know what to display.

Even her body, just then moving with all its light and effortless grace, went still.

“Hi,” he greeted, at a loss of words.

She stared at him a few more seconds and he stared back. In her hand was a half-emptied glass of wine and her cheeks were tinted red in a telling sign of lack of sobriety. She needed to lean on the door to stand still. He repressed the urge to reach for and stabilize her, even as his fingers itched for it.

“… Howard?”

It felt so good to hear her say his name – right up until he detected the note of hesitation in her tone.

Howard was usually the life of the party, not the one crashing it, but he wasn’t sure he was all that welcome here.


	10. Angie – The First Floor Rule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It doesn't take long for Angie to get over her tipsiness and talk with Howard like a responsible adult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the disclaimer, I don't like alcohool, I've never been drunk and I don't know how it works. So, uh, Angie's not drunk but only tipsy at the beginning of this chapter, but I have no idea if I wrote it in a believable way or not.

The party was in full swing. Angie didn’t know all the people present, but it didn’t matter when one intended on a big bash to celebrate a happy event and to forget about their disappointments.

It came in handy to have such a large house when you had at least twenty people coming in. The music was loud, the alcohol was flowing and Angie thought that this was probably the best day ever. Her first actual chance at a role! Sure, it was only as an understudy, but you had to start small even when you were aiming for big!

They only had one rule for their hosts: no one above the first floor. Peggy and Angie had laughed at the memory of the strict Myriam Fry and her similar rule back at the Griffith.

The door bell had stopped startling them every few minutes, but later in the party it still rang through the house. Angie, a little tipsy, went to open it, ready to greet whoever was on the other side to invite them in.

Her smile froze on her face when she saw that the person standing there was Howard.

“Hi,” he said, looking with puzzlement at the party behind her.

He looked frazzled. She had only every seen him on his best for their dates – and the only time he had truly been with messy hair was when they had started to fool around, by her own hand. Now though, it didn’t look like he had spared more than a minute to comb through his hair and his suit was just as rumpled.

She still felt the urge to get him even more ruffled the moment she was him.

“… Howard?”

How was she supposed to react? She was happy to see him – but then the photograph from the newspaper imposed itself in her mind. Maybe he was here to see Peggy and not her – he was her friend first, wasn’t he?

“I – what’s going on?”

Avoiding the matter that had just troubled her mind was easier, so she answered his question.

“We’re celebrating my first role in a theater production,” she raised her glass, spilling some of it on the floor, and deliberately omitted that it was as an understudy.

It was easier and quicker to explain it that way. And maybe a small part of her wanted to pretend that she was doing better than in reality. It wasn’t pettiness, or pride, it was just… A way for her to put herself in the mindset of a successful actress. There. It was better for her self-esteem! Her small lie had nothing to do with _him_!

Despite leaning on the door, she almost lost her balance on her right foot. Even if she was just a tiny bit tipsy, the first thing affected whenever she consumed alcohol was her ability to stand straight. She couldn’t remember how many times Nino had decided to cut off her access to drinks because she had started to stumble, even if she had merely drank a glass or two.

“Oh, that’s- that’s great!” he seemed genuinely content for her, but still preoccupied by whatever had brought him on her doorstep. “Can we talk? Alone?”

“Sure! We could go upstairs – Why do ya wanna talk to me?”

Howard’s arms went around hers and she realized that if he hadn’t caught her, she would have slipped from the door.

She threw a mean glance at her glass and put it down the nearest piece of furniture.

“Let me help you,” he said letting her lean against him while they climbed up the stairwell.

She didn’t need to rely on him that much though, his presence had a sobering effect on her that meant she could take three steps without his help. Not four though, she wasn’t that sober yet.

“Hey!” someone called from below. “We’re not supposed to go above the first floor.”

Angie laughed.

“I live here, dummy! This is my party!”

The man didn’t insist, leaving them both to finish their ascension. Angie lead him to her room.

“What did you wanna tell me?” she asked, unbalanced by her own motion when she turned to face him.

The buzz of the alcohol was slowly fading, but its effect was still pretty destabilizing.

“I suppose you’ve seen the article,” he stated as his eyes fell on the pile of newspaper.

Angie hadn’t bothered to hide the one with the incriminating photo in it as she hadn’t known he was coming and it was now sitting atop the pile, ripped where she had circled the ad too forcefully.

“Yes,” she admitted, “but I understand.”

She had been repeating it for her sake all this time, maybe telling him would help.

“You do?” he seemed surprised.

“Yes, we didn’t make any promises – and you were gone a while, you don’t owe me anything. You can see whoever you’d like. I’m glad we could have some fun while it last-”

Angie hadn’t noticed his horrified expression as she was avoiding his face while she spoke, afraid she would give away her real feelings if she looked at him in the eyes. When he grabbed her arms though, she was forced to look up.

“No-no-no,” he protested eagerly, “That’s not – it’s not – nothing happened, all right? I mean, she did kiss me, but I did not respond – it was just a ploy for her to use me and to help her gain more fame – I – we didn’t – nothing more happen than that, I promise you!”

“Oh,” she could only say. “Why didn’t you call?”

“I was afraid you’d hang up on me! And it’s not something you want to talk about on the phone.”

Did he really come back just to see her? Angie was speechless. She had been hoping for – for anything that resembled a sign from him, really. She would have been happy with a distracted phone call or a short letter – a telegram, even! And now, he was here? Warmth spread from her chest to her limbs. It made her too numb to produce words, even as her lips started to stretch in a genuine, blissful smile.

Thankfully, she did not have to think of an elaborate response because he kept speaking:

“And I’m not seeing – or planning to see – anyone, all right? I don’t want to see anyone but you. I missed you so much the last few weeks, I just -”

She cut him off with a kiss. She had been wanting to kiss him since he had appeared in the doorstep. He didn’t waste any time responding.

A knock on the door shook them out of their embrace for a second.

“Angie, is that you? A guest warned me that someone had gone upstairs.”

“Yes, English, it’s me!” Angie responded, arms still around Howard’s shoulders and neck and nuzzling him. “You can go back downstairs.”

Peggy ignored her invitation though, opening the door gently to peek inside.

“Angie, is everything all right? You’re not still thinking about -”

She stopped talking when she saw Howard, and finished opening the door.

“What are you doing here?”

Her voice was a mix between hostility and surprise.

“He came back to tell me nothing happened with that up-and-coming actress,” informed Angie, still taking full advantage of their hug to rub her cheek against the side of his neck.

She had horribly missed him, and she was not letting him go just yet. He hadn’t put on cologne and she was basking in his natural scent. She expected him to smell more like motor oil or metal, but instead she was reminded of dry leaves in autumn.

Peggy said nothing, but her raised eyebrow and the hand on her hip were telling of her thoughts on the matter.

“I might be a great many things, Peggy,” Howard said, “but I am not a cheat. Once I commit, I do not stray. Angie’s my girl.”

The bird in Angie’s chest seemed to try and get out from beneath her rib cage at those last words. _My girl_. This time, she was sure that it wasn’t alcohol making her knees weak.

And maybe it was silly, maybe it was nonsensical, maybe she was being naive, but she didn’t care right now. All she cared about was that he had come back.

“Go back to the party, I’ll be fine, English.”

“Are you su-”

“Peggy.”

Angie’s voice held just enough warning. She was a big girl, she could handle herself.

Peggy seemed reluctant, but she finally relented and closed the door, leaving the two of them alone.

Howard’s head was still turned towards the door behind him, leaving Angie with the perfect angle of attack.

“Sometimes I think she really doesn’t trust m-” he began before stopping mid-sentence.

Angie was nibbling at his ear, smiling as she felt him shudder between her arms. She let go to whisper very slow to him:

“We are going to have sex tonight.”


	11. Angie - Your Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things evolve naturally from where we left.
> 
> Also, there's a phone call, but nobody cares.

Their bodies were pressed together. When she finished telling him the word ‘sex’, she felt an immediate reaction against her thigh. She grinned wider against his cheek, but then he spoke:

“You don’t think that that would be a bit sudden?”

There was a strain in his voice, like he was forcing himself to say it through gritted teeth. Angie had never thought Howard would be so restrained when it came to sexuality. His arms had let go of her, going limb at his side as if uncertain as to where they should go.

“We got interrupted last time – again – and I have no idea when we’ll see each other again after tonight – and...”

She paused on purpose, breathing on his ear before she continued:

“I want you.”

The reaction she had noticed became, if it was possible, stiffer still and she had to contain a giggle.

“I – I’m not sure that’s a good idea, you’re completely sauced -”

“Just a bit,” she dismissed and started kissing his jaw, cupping his face with her hand and taking a fistful of hair with the other.

“Ah – I -There are guest downstairs -”

Angie pressed herself against him so that he would take a step back, and, once they were close enough, she locked the door.

“Not supposed to come up,” she continued kissing down his neck and loosened his tie, “and the music is loud, they won’t hear us.”

His jacket slipped off his shoulders and landed on the floor with a simple push. He still hadn’t put his hands back on her, to her greatest frustration.

“I don’t want to take advantage of the situation -”

She grabbed his head gently but firmly and stared straight into his eyes. He had great eyes, she thought. From most angles they would appear pitch black, but under the right light, you could see their wonderful shade of brown come to life.

 _Focus_ , she thought, _you’re trying to convey something to him._

“Does it look like you’re taking advantage of me? Do I seem more than a bit tipsy to you?”

“No -”

“Am I really your girl?”

“Absolutely.”

The answer came without an ounce of hesitation.

“Then make love to me, genius.”

It appeared she had gotten through him, because his arms finally moved so that he could lay his hands on her hips, pull her a bit closer and kiss her.

They both ignored the phone on her desk that had begun ringing and landed on her bed behind him. He shifted so he could be over her.

“You’re taking charge?” she asked, not complaining.

He readjusted her position on the mattress by lifting her from underneath her arm pits and, once she was settled, his hands traveled down her body, stopping only a moment on her breasts, causing her to raise against his touch.

“You asked me to make love to you...” he started trailing kisses down her breasts, and Angie made a small surprised noise when she understood what he was planning to do, “… And that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

He had begun undressing her much slower than she would have liked when a knock came through the door. Angie was very happy that she had locked the door.

Howard slumped his head against her naked belly. His breath was warm against her skin as he muttered something that she couldn’t quite make out, but seemed to lament on his inability to get a minute of tranquility in this house.

“Howard!” Peggy’s voice came from behind the door. “Mister Jarvis is on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”

“I’m going to kill him”, he muttered while Angie did her best not to laugh at his expression, then louder: “I’ll take it in here!”

Peggy’s steps faded away.

“Don’t move,” he asked Angie before getting up and walking up to the phone on her desk.

Angie put herself up on her elbows to get a better look at his exposed back while he picked up the receiver.

“Jarvis?”

He barely let enough time to the butler to confirm that it was him, before he continued:

“If you call me again for the rest of the night, for whatever reason, I’m firing you. I’m serious.”

He hung up the phone and returned to her, mumbling about incessant interruptions. Despite her own frustrations, Angie could not help to laugh. Her laugh turned into a moan he put his fingers between her legs and rubbed her through the fabric of her unmentionables.

“Now, where were we?”

“You were taking charge,” Angie managed to articulate.

“Right.”

He lowered her panties and Angie let out a much louder moan when she felt his warm, rough fingertips getting directly in contact with her clit.

It became incredibly harder to maintain the noises she made at an acceptable level when he replaced his fingers with his mouth, alternating between sucking and twirling his tongue around her most sensible spots.

He didn’t give up after the first time she came, instead using the first wave of pleasure to build on it and add another, then another still.

By the time he was done, Angie wasn’t sure where she was, how long it had been, and she was more certain of his name than hers because of how many times she had called it since he had begun. Her whole body was still trembling and she realized he had only stopped because she could no longer cling to his hair.

“You still with me, Angel?”

Angie nodded, not confident yet in her ability to speak.

“I’ll take it it wasn’t too bad?”

She could hear his smug smirk even without seeing his mouth from this angle.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Uh – it’s one thirty, why?”

“Because yesterday is no longer the best day of my life.”

He shook with laughter, then extracted himself from between her legs to come a little closer.

“Are you telling me I’m better than getting your first role?”

It was Angie’s turn to smirk.

“At the very least, you’re better than becoming an understudy. You might want to prepare for when you have to compete with the real deal.”

“I could always practice more,” he suggested, picking up on her suggestive tone.

When she woke up the next morning, Angie had to admit: getting a role would have to be pretty fantastic to contend with the night she just had had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... It's been about 5 months since the last time I posted a chapter for this fic. Curiously, that has nothing to do with... *handwaves at the world and the shitshow happening all over it right now* I simply fell out of love with this story. Loved writing it at the time, because It did write all 33 chapters + epilogue already done, I just have to format/reread to make sure I didn't leave too many mistakes. Problem is, editing it has become a chore where writing it had been a breeze, so I procrastinated. I'm going to finish publishing this thing though! If only for the few readers who were kind enough to leave a kudo (THANK YOU, by the way).  
> Thank you also if you read it through (or even just up to this point) and if you do like this fic, don't pay attention to my moping, and enjoy! :D  
> PS: pretty sure this is my first sex scene, I hope that was an okay read!


	12. Howard - Dynamite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation from last chapter ~

Her skin tasted like buttercream, her kisses like wine and her pussy left a briny savor on his tongue. Her moans were music to his ears, even when she became too incoherent to say his name right.

By the time he was sure she was satisfied, his jaw was aching and he wore his proudest smile.

He had every intention to keep on ‘practicing’ a bit longer, just as she had suggested.

He licked his lips, but had to wipe her nectar out of his chin with his hand.

“You’re delicious,” he said while licking his fingers.

“More than the fish soup?” she raised an eyebrow.

He was startled by his laugh. He stopped to listen to the music of her own laughter. Her voice was still giddy from her orgasms and her chuckle had that deep quality that made him feel like he was floating.

“Things have been a bit one-sided thus far though,” she noted.

“I don’t see what you mean,” he licked his lips one more time before diving down to kiss her again.

His fingers replaced where his mouth had been. Her heat was welcoming him deeper into her, and she moaned again, before pushing him back.

“Really, let me help you with that!” she insisted eagerly, her hand traveling down his torso.

He forgot whatever he was going to tell her when her soft hand wrapped around his cock and trailed up and down its length before she tightened her grip slightly.

He swallowed, trying to remember what he was thinking about before her hand had slipped inside his boxers.

“W-wait,” he managed to say before ripping himself away from her embrace.

“What? Why?” her voice had gotten small and worried.

The cold air on his skin brought him back to his senses in a sobering and unpleasant way, but allowed him to reach insides his pants that were lumped on the floor with efficient moves. He searched the back pocket and took out a condom.

“Oh. You’ve come prepared,” she teased, her smile back just as quickly as she had lost it.

“… It’s an old habit,” he admitted, not wishing to linger on the subject.

He didn’t want to confirm the thoughts she had shared with him when he had arrived; that he was with that other actress or anyone else for that matter. The panic he had felt when she had said she didn’t mind them going their own separate ways was not something he was keen on experiencing again.

He wasted no time putting on the condom. While in the army, he had heard some guys dismiss its use in favor of penicillin, since the sensations weren’t nearly as good with the physical protection on.

Howard didn’t believe penicillin being quite the panacea others made it to be. And it didn’t work as a contraceptive. Leaving a trail of kids behind him didn’t fit too well with his usual string-free attitude toward sex.

They’d talk further about sexual history and contraception method later with Angie, but for now he preferred to be safe and use the condom anyway.

She didn’t have any objection with it, aside from the impatience expressed in the way she pulled him back down to kiss him again.

“Let’s take care of you,” she whispered between two meetings of their lips before she slipped her tongue inside his mouth and grabbed his member again.

She was very determined in getting him inside of her as she hooked her ankles behind his back and pulled him to her. Her hand guiding him, he slid inside of her.

For a moment, he lost his ability to think again, drowned in the heat of her around him, how wet and tight and aching for him she was. She engulfed him completely with a small whine, her heel digging in the lower part of his back to get him closer and closer to her still.

Once he had gotten as far as he could, he did not move for a moment, savoring the moment. Time seemed to stand still as he basked in the feeling of her.

“If someone comes in now, I swear I’ll kill them,” he said once he had recovered from the initial shock of pleasure.

Angie shook with laughter under him, the small jolts of her body enough move to accentuate his pleasure.

“What are you waiting for, genius? Kiss me...”

He did as he was asked, kissed her and began moving inside of her. Angie was throbbing around him, digging her fingernails in his back. That only urged him to go faster. Despite his initial intention to go slow, he needed more, faster.

He stopped kissing her to breathe and focus on his thrusts. Their faces still inches from each other, he could feel her breathing get quicker against his cheek. Her eyes plunged into his; her pupils were overtaking the blue of them, just as he had imagined they would so many times before in his fantasies.

“Howard,” Angie called his name, breathless, tightening around him with a tremble, and it sent him over the edge.

His last few thrusts were a bit desperate as he felt himself coming undone.

When he finished, he rolled off her, unable to sustain his weight without crashing on her and unwilling to slump like a ragged doll on her. His arm hit the wall against which her bed was leaning. It felt freezing compared to the burning heat of his skin, yet he could not find in him to care.

Angie rolled to lay her head on his shoulder and snuggle closer.

“You think we could go for a round two in a few minutes?” he asked, still catching his breath.

“I think that’d be round five for me,” laughed Angie. “But I’m ready when you are.”

She kissed the side of his neck, darting her tongue against his skin to taste his sweat and tingling him.

“You’re dynamite,” he said before kissing her again.

“Right back at ya.”


	13. Howard - An Un-Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard found the right gift - there's just a little problem on the delivery end of it.

Why he had ever wished to take things slow, Howard wasn’t so sure anymore. He certainly did not wish to take things slow any longer. Angie had been more than eager to invite him into her bed and it had been rather difficult to find cause not to accept.

Needless to say, he was no longer worried that he would not be welcome into her house anymore. Peggy might argue, but considering how Angie had shot her down, it was clear her roommate’s opinion came second to her own.

Jarvis had called him again come morning, and Howard had begrudgingly accepted to leave Angie’s bed and return to his responsibilities. The task had only been made more difficult when it turned out that she was a cuddler. She hadn’t woken when the phone rang, yet her arms had remained firmly laced around his torso while he tried to reach it. He hadn’t disturbed her for another thirty minutes, enjoying lazing around in bed for the first time in weeks. She talked in her sleep. Incoherent mumbles that sounded a bit like Italian, but that he could not decipher. Italian was not one of the many languages that he spoke. He’d need to remedy to that.

Howard had woken her up as he left though. Leaving without a word right after they had had sex for the first time didn’t sound like a great plan, even for someone as dim as him in the ways of dating. The lingering good bye kiss at the door had only been broken once Peggy had cleared her throat and warned them that some people could not take their breakfast while subjected to that view and that she had been waiting to do so for more than ten minutes.

They didn’t see each other for another week as he had to make up for the meetings he had missed, but he did end up finding her a gift. He sent it by mail, only to receive an irritated phone call from Peggy.

“Did you really just send Angie a wedding ring by mail?”

“It’s a ring, Peg -”

“A wedding ring!”

“A ring without a proposal is not a wedding ring,” he dismissed.

“Really? Because from where I’m standing, it’s not what it looks like!”

“What did Angie think?”

That was what mattered.

“She hasn’t seen it yet, she’s still at work. Howard, please reconsider this. You don’t seem to understand what effect your actions have.”

Her tone was stern and laced with worry. Worry for Angie, he knew. He couldn’t begrudge her for being so concerned with her friend’s well-being, not when he cared just as much.

He sighed, rubbed his face, then asked:

“You think it’s too much?”

“Yes!”

Knowing Peggy, she’d be capable of refusing to give the ring to Angie and then make a whole thing out of it.

“All right, I’ll find something else. You can keep it somewhere and I’ll give it to her when the time is more appropriate.”

“More appropriate? Why, can you honestly tell me you plan on marrying her?”

Howard shrugged even though his friend could not see him from the other side of the receiver.

“Might be a bit too soon for that just yet Peg,” he said, insisting on the word _yet_.

There was a silence on the other side.

“Peggy, you still with me?”

“I – You - you’re considering it a possibility,” she stated with obvious astonishment.

“That is a development that sometimes occur when a man and a woman start to date,” he pointed out, amused by her reaction.

He didn’t know what the future held, but he knew he was seeing Angie in his. So far, he had had no reason not to and he hoped there wouldn’t be any.

“I -”

Peggy trailed off. It wasn’t in her habit to be at a loss for word, especially when she was on her way to lecture him.

“Peggy, this conversation has been lovely,” Howard finally cut into her silence when Jarvis came into his office, “but I have other matters to attend to. Take care of the ring for me, all right? I’ll find something else.”

He left her a few more seconds to answer, but when he didn’t hear another sound from her, he hung up.

Hopefully Peggy wouldn’t find his next gift before Angie, intercept it, and decreed it improper before his girl even had the time to set an eye on it.


	14. Howard - A Glass of Rhum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy doesn't disapprove of their relationship nearly as much as she did - someone else comes up to do just that.

Peggy didn’t act as nosy as before after that phone call for some reason. In fact, Howard found he and Angie had more opportunities to stay alone at the two women’s house than before. He wished he could have taken advantage of every time Peggy decided to leave the house, but he still had other obligations. Angie and him had gone on a few more dates. He got to demonstrate a working hovercar and she enthusiastically jumped into a plane with him so he could show her New York from the sky. Angie had never been on a plane before and her joy at flying had been most endearing. One of their dates even ended unexpectedly with some skinny dipping in one of his private swimming pool.

It was unfortunate that Angie had been too unfamiliar with pool sex to feel comfortable trying it, but he had no matter to complain when she had been taking so many initiatives out of the water. Plus, he didn’t think he could find any pleasure in doing things with her if she wasn’t filled with eagerness for them.

She had a knack for surprising him with her forwardness whenever she was feeling adventurous. He was a bit unsure as to what had prompted her sudden need to try the downstairs office as a playing ground in hers and Peggy’s house, but since the latter was absent, he had had no objection of his own.

He did not have any further protest when she decided that she would be the one in charge this time around.

“You know I thought you wanted to make another use of the desk when you mentioned the offi-”

He got cut off when her hand wrapped around his length.

“Oh we’ll still have plenty of time for that,” she assured him, her lips inches close to his ear before she knelt down.

“You – oh – you don’t usually leave me enough s-stamina for that -” he tried to keep talking even with her tongue distracting him.

She paused in her administrations to talk, her breath on him alone being enough to make him curl his toes.

“Liar, you have plenty of stamina. But even if that was the case, _tesoro_ … We’ll just have to be more inventive then,” she suggested before getting back at her task.

Angie was very determined, once she started something, to finish it and to finish it with style.

He was a few seconds from release, one his hand in her hair, the other to balance himself against the desk and utterly blinded by lust, when the ringing at the door made them both startle. He let go of her and Angie quickly withdrew from him. He let out a small howl at the loss.

“Really now?” he muttered as Angie scrambled to look out the window while staying on her knees, peeking from underneath the heavy curtains.

He leaned back on the desk, his mind still partly blanked out. It was hard to focus on anything else than the memory of her lips around his shaft right now.

“Shit on a stick!” she swore.

“What?”

“It’s my brother!”

“You must be fucking kidding me,” he muttered, too low for her to hear.

He had never met Angie’s brother, but doing so with his pants to his ankles was probably not the best way to make an impression.

How come he always needed to get dressed quickly whenever he was having a good time with Angie? It was almost like everyone had unanimously decided not to leave them alone. What would it take to get more than five minutes together without someone barging in?

He pulled his pants up in a hurry as Angie was heading out of the office to answer the door.

“Wait, Angel!” he called her back.

She turned around.

“What?”

He tried to smooth down her hair as best as he could, but she was very clearly still disheveled.

“Didn’t know your brother was coming today,” he commented lightly as he gave up on a particularly rebellious curl.

He hoped his grip hadn’t been too rough – in the heat of the moment, he hadn’t realized what he was doing.

“Wish at least I had known,” Angie grumbled as she went back to the door. “He always shows up unannounced...”

He heard her voice switch from annoyance to joy when she greeted him and he had to laugh as he tucked his shirt back in his pants. No wonder her brother kept coming without notice if she didn’t show him that it bothered her – then again, she might not have wanted to give him a clue as to what she was doing when he had arrived.

“Come in, I can introduce you to Howard.”

“Who’s Howard?”

“My boyfriend!”

Hearing her call him that had the same effect as drinking a good glass of rhum; warm, tingly inside and just on the verge of burning. He wanted to get drunk on that feeling.

“Your what?”

From his surprised and accusatory voice, Angie’s brother did not share the sentiment. Time to make a good first impression.

He exited the office and saw them both standing in the entrance, the front door closing behind them.

Angie’s brother shared her blue eyes, but where hers were playful and lively, his felt like ice as he stared him down.

“I’ve heard quite a lot about you -” began Howard, but he didn’t get to go much further before Nino cut him off.

“How old are you?”

Howard raised his eyebrows in surprise, and threw a glance at Angie who was standing next to him. She smiled awkwardly at him and shrugged her shoulders as if to say ‘ _yes, he really is like this_ ’.

Did Howard look that old?

“… I’m thirty-one,” he decided it was best to give him a straight answer.

Nino turned towards Angie, eyes bulging.

“He’s ten years older than you!”

Say what now?

“Please,” Angie swatted the accusation away, “he’s _eight_ years older than me. And I don’t see how that’s a problem.

“You’re twenty-three?” Howard asked.

“That’s too big of a diff-” began Nino, before Angie caught his nose between two fingers and yanked him down.

Howard was puzzled before the picture the two painted. Angie had seemed small next to her brother who was towering a good head over both of them, but he was now bent in two, wincing in pain as Angie kept him firmly in place.

“You talk too much, _fratello_.”

She then turned to him, her brother still immobilized between her two fingers, a worried expression slipping in place of her previous, confidant one.

“Do you mind that I’m younger?”

“I’m just surprised,” he said with honesty. “You’re very mature for your age.”

And an adult in her own right, and one that knew just what she wanted, so he did not think eight small years were all that important. Her brother didn’t seem to think so, but he was still immobilized by her very strange take-down.

“Is he all right?” he nodded in Nino’s direction.

“Oh, yeah. He’s just got a very sensible nose. He must have forgotten I know all of his weaknesses, it has been a while.”

She let go of her brother who quickly straightened up, rubbing his nose bridge.

“Low blow, Angie. And that’s way too big of an age difference!” he insisted.

“Mom is twelve years younger than Dad,” she countered.

“But -”

“Your girlfriend is six years younger than you.”

“Don’t bring Elena into this!”

“It’s crazy, I always see you flappin’ your lips, but I never hear anythin’ makin’ sense,” she teased.

Watching the two siblings bicker was very entertaining. Almost made up for their alone time being interrupted.

(Well, not really, but he was trying to convince himself)

Nino glared at her, and more particularly at her hair.

“And how do you explain that?” he pointed at the rebellious curl that had caused so much trouble to Howard.

“Nothing wrong with some kissing, even if we got carried away a bit,” said Howard lightheartedly.

He probably didn’t need to know where her lips had actually been.

Nino turned his icy focus back to him and Angie’s eyes went round and she shook her head vigorously to tell Howard to stop talking from behind her brother.

Oh. He was the kind of brother that still thought his baby sister was pure as snow and would never do anything before marriage – even something as innocent as kissing. The memory of his last few minutes with Angie replayed in his mind. His girl was far from innocent – and he liked her all the more for that.

“You’re a funny one, aren’t ya?” Nino growled at him.

The other man took a step closer and towered over Howard, using his height to try and intimidate him. Howard blinked up, a smirk still stuck to his lips. He’d need a bit more than his tough act to scare him.

“I’m being a terrible host!” intervened Angie, her arm sneaking around her brother’s to tug at it and drag him towards the back of the house. “Why don’t I serve you a drink?”

She let go of him and pushed in the direction of the kitchen, then turned to Howard to whisper:

“Run while you still can!”

“I’m not one to run from an easy fight,” he whispered back, before stepping into the kitchen as well.

Spending the day in her brother’s presence was not how he had imagined their time together to go, but he supposed it was a way to get to know Angie better. And he would have had to meet her brother eventually, seeing how important he was to her, so they might as well do it now.

(they could always get back to the office at some other point)


	15. Angie - Misinformed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welp. That killed the mood all right.

Despite what he had told her, Angie didn’t believe Howard’s commitment to be something that would hold for long. She was happy with whatever she could get though, so she did not give voice to her fears.

Fears… That wasn’t too strong of a word to qualify what she felt.

And to think she had repeatedly told herself she was fine with him leaving her whenever he’d feel like it. She could no longer convince herself that it was true though. Fantastic sex aside, how could she pretend that she wouldn’t miss the long nights of late talking, the way she saw him looking at her when she stopped laughing, the quiet moments were they were both too exhausted to do anything more than just sit on a couch next to each other in silence while listening to whatever was on the radio?

The way he had stood his ground when Nino, her brother, had discovered who she was seeing and tried to intimidate him with his height and muscles, only to be faced with an unperturbed man? The way he bit his tongue whenever he felt like talking back to Peggy because he knew she was Angie’s best friend? Or the way he acted more like a rambunctious boy than an employer with his butler most of the time?

Not seeing him anymore, or not receiving his phone calls when he was away, that would hurt much more than she had anticipated when she had said yes to the very first date he had offered.

This is why she was so surprised when, two months later, they were still very much together. Whenever Howard had to leave town, he’d make sure she knew he hadn’t forgotten her. A bucket of flower left on her doorstep, a letter sent from the city he stayed in, a surprise phone call he always began by telling her how much he missed her: it always felt too good to be true.

Yet it did not stop.

And Angie did not want it to stop. Not today, not in a month, not in a year, not… Ever, if she could ask that much.

But that was the kind of talk that would drive him away, she was sure, and so she did not dare to say it out loud, not even to Peggy.

Her roommate had slightly mellowed since the beginnings of her relationship with Howard, but Angie thought the agent still warned him behind her back not to hurt the actress by acting reckless.

That day, they were at her home, on a sofa and, as Howard said so himself, blissfully alone.

“It’s not that I don’t like her – obviously, she’s my friend - I just like spending time with you when she’s not around.”

“I’ve noticed,” Angie smiled at him. “Might be because we don’t do nearly as much when she’s around...”

If Howard hadn’t been clued in by how she had gotten closer, using her hands to crawl, the tone she had used and that he was now used to associate with foreplay definitely did.

“We still do plenty,” he said distractedly, his attention more focused on her body.

She sat herself across his lap and wrapped herself around him.

“Hmm, but I don’t think we’d be comfortable doing this if there was someone else in the house...”

She leaned closer to kiss him. He hummed with contentment.

“I seem to recall there were a lot of people in the house when -”

Angie rolled her eyes, already knowing what he was about to say. He loved to remind her of their first time.

“Come on, not again -”

“- when you were begging me for sex -”

“I was not _begging_!” she protested.

“That’s not what I recall -” he continued teasing.

“You were most certainly begging me last night!”

“You didn’t let me finish! For an hour! That was pure torture!”

Angie threw her head back to laugh. It was decidedly less than an hour – she didn’t have that strong of a will to last herself.

“Torture? Please, _tesoro_ , you know you can’t get enough of me.”

When she lowered her head to look into his eyes again, she was surprised to see how serious he was, looking at her.

“You’re right, I could never get enough of you.”

From playful, the atmosphere had suddenly shifted to something akin to solemnity. Angie did not dare break the silence that settled as they stared at each other.

“I love you.”

Angie was taken aback by the declaration. He had never told her that before, and she never expected him to. In fact, she wasn’t even sure she had heard him correctly.

She tried to articulate something, but her mouth was too dry, and she merely moved her lips without a word.

His eyes were so sincere, she thought. There was no way that was a lie – or even that she had misunderstood. And she loved him too, she had known it for quite some time now. So, she decided to answer him.

“I lov-”

She was interrupted by the loud echo of the door opening.

Howard closed his eyes. There was a lot of vexation expressed in the sigh that he let out then.

Peggy walked in the room, clearly in a hurry.

“I am sorry to barge in like this,” she explained as she walked behind them, “but it seems I was misinformed as to what file I was supposed to be bringing at work for our meeting this afternoon.”

She went behind a painting in the wall on the right of the sofa where they had been sitting on, opened the safe it hid and grabbed a pile of files.

“Might as well take all of them. Oh, and, please, don’t do anything on that couch that I would not approve of. Thank you.”

She left the room, quickly followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing again, without either of them having uttered a word.

A few seconds went by.

“That sort of killed the mood, right?” asked Angie, halfway between apologetic and snickering.

“It did, yes,” agreed Howard.

Angie pushed herself off of him with a smile.

“I wonder what she’d say if she knew what we did here last week,” she giggled at the thought, then sighed. “I’m going to make us some coffee.”

“Wait, Angel -” he called as she was leaving the room, “You didn’t finish your sentence!”

She went through the door, then simply popped her head back in.

“I love you too, genius!”


	16. Angie - Joanna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can't have everything at once - especially when duty calls!

A month after their mutual declaration, they were kissing in her bedroom when the phone rang. Angie ignored the usual protestation from Howard and tried to take the receiver. He grabbed her hand before she could though, kissing her again.

“You don’t need to take that.”

“Yes, I do -” she tried to move again, but he was still keeping her on top of him by grabbing her at her hips, and his lips on her neck were very distracting, “- Howard, please, it’s probably the theater -”

“They don’t need you right now,” he dismissed.

Angie’s brain came to a halt when he went down to her collarbone and started trailing kisses down to her chest. She mentally swore at her bra for still being on when her shirt had had the courtesy of slipping off since the beginning of their make-out session.

The phone rang again, and she was back on track.

“They might need me tonight!”

She had had to take the place of Joanna, the main actress for the play, a bunch of times already, and she prided herself on being the most reliable understudy they had – according to the director of the theater. She had even interpreted some of the other characters when even the other understudies were absent or left without notice.

She had good hopes of being hired again for the next play they were preparing.

The idea gave her enough of a push to grab the phone before it rang again, and she bit her tongue not to laugh at Howard who slumped back against her bed in defeat.

It was, indeed, the theater. And they did, indeed, need her that night.

At the news, Howard had a long sigh.

“Jeez, I wonder what would have happened if I had told you I was fired!”

“It’s not that I’m not happy for you, Angel,” he covered, “I’m just sad that we don’t get to spend tonight together. While Peggy is away. In Europe.”

The news of Peggy’s trip had caused great rejoicing on his part – and now he was denied the event he had looked forward for a week. Angie was usually much too tired to do anything after she had been on stage, and the play lasted late into the night.

“I’m sorry, dear, I know this isn’t what you had in mind,” she said while pushing his hair away from his forehead with affection.

“Do you mind if I come to see you?”

“Oh – well, it’s the same play as when you saw it last -”

He had already gone to a representation where she had acted. There were no words to express how happy Angie had been that night. He had somehow found enough ways to compliment her on her acting to last the entire trip back home, and seemed ready to continue longer still at the time. Having him cheer her on was the best reward for her work.

“I don’t mind. I just want to spend time with you. Afterwards we can come back here to sleep together.”

When he saw her expression, trying to let him down gently, he corrected himself.

“Next to each other I meant. Sleeping next to each other.”

Angie smiled at him.

“That’s sounds like an incredibly boring night for you.”

“I don’t mind as long as I get to spend it with you.”

Angie wondered, not for the first time, how he managed to make her weak with a line as sappy as that.

“Sure we can.”


	17. Howard - Horny Lovebirds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made.

It would soon have been six months since their first date.

For some reason, the discussion Howard had had with Peggy on the phone, after he had sent Angie that ring, kept playing back into his head.

It wouldn’t be too much anymore, would it?

That was just a ring. A very expensive, very beautiful, very symbolic ring.

And maybe it didn’t need to be ‘just’ a ring. Maybe it could mean something.

He had meant what he had told Peggy when he had said he considered marriage a possibility. A natural development. And when he thought of Angie, he could not see himself get tired of her. In fact, he always found himself wanting _more_ of her.

There was only one problem with that idea.

Whatever higher power was at play to ruin his life, it had decided that it didn’t want to leave him and Angie alone for more than five minutes. So, he needed a plan.

As if brought back in the strategy room, he recalled how Steve would prepare to try and stay on his best case scenario plan. How he devised his back-up plans – how a lot of his back-up plans involved Peggy in some ways, when they were together in the field.

First, he’d need a place where he could control as much of the variables as possible. Not a restaurant or a place outside then. They could get high-jacked before they even reached their destination, so he’d want to stay where she already was; her house.

Howard needed Peggy in his corner, to insure she wouldn’t barge in unannounced for a reason or another. That meant he had to tell her about his project though.

“You’re going to propose?” she exclaimed when he began explaining his intentions.

It was strange to hear it out loud when he hadn’t put it into words himself, not even in his own head. Peggy’s voice rang through the corridor and Howard, for once, was happy that Angie was working at the theater that evening. It wouldn’t have been a surprise for long otherwise.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he made light of her reaction.

Peggy sighed, shook her head and put a hand on her hip. Then, she braced herself, and he knew she was about to try and make him see her point of view. That was in the little crease between her eyes, and the determined set of her jaw.

He needed her help, so he didn’t try to stop her from doing so.

“How long have the two of you been dating?”

“Almost six months.”

Peggy pulled a face like she had tasted something too sour, something she often did in his presence, especially when Angie was involved.

“You shouldn’t be allowed to make that face.”

“What face?”

“That dopey smile. It doesn’t go with the rest of you,” she waved her hand in his general direction.

Peggy crossed her arms and sighed.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, to you, of all people, … Never mind, you are the person with the worst control over your impulses that I have never met. Don’t you think you’re going too fast?”

He was glad at least that she had finally accepted that he was sincere in his endeavors with her roommate. Her over-protectiveness had been hard enough to deal with, and when you added Angie’s brother’s to the mix, Howard didn’t know how he could have ever managed to see his girlfriend had they both been so keen on keeping them apart.

“Why waste time when you’re sure?”

“Have you thought about what Angie would say?”

“I’m hoping she says yes!” he winked at her.

“Has she ever told you about her previous roommate? The girl that stole her dresses and returned them all torn up and sang loudly in the shower?”

A worse roommate than Peggy in many regards, though that one had at least never barged into Angie’s room when she was naked with her boyfriend. The same could not be said for the SSR agent.

“Olivia? Yes, why?”

He didn’t see the connection between the girl Angie had loathed so much she still sometimes raved about her and his proposal.

“Hasn’t she also told you about how she was dropped like a hot potato when Olivia got engaged and left her alone to deal with the rent?”

He was now starting to see where she was going.

“Does the Angie that talks about girls jumping into marriage a few months into a relationship strike you as someone who would want to marry you after six months of dating?”

… Maybe not.

He was not giving up on trying to spend more time with her though.

“What if I just asked her to move in with me?”

Peggy raised an eyebrow, half-surprised, half-meditating the option.

“I suppose she wouldn’t be too averse to that idea.”

“So you wouldn’t mind losing your roommate?”

“Howard.”

Peggy put both of her hands on his shoulder and looked straight into his eyes, conveying her point as seriously as one could.

“You are my friend. Angie is my best friend. But watching the two of you being hopelessly in love makes me sick. I am tired of going home after a long day at work only to be greeted by the two of you making out on the couch.”

“That’s not all that we do; we talk and -”

“Howard. That’s always what you’re doing when I come home. You somehow have the worst possible timing!”

Howard had to refrain from pointing out that, from his point of view, Peggy was the one with bad timing, so he could instead focus on the important matter at hand:

“Does that mean that you’ll help me ask her?”

“Yes,” Peggy let go of him and made a dismissing movement with her wrist, “you two have my benediction to move in together,” she rolled her eyes. “And even marry, I’m sure you two will be great together, but don’t ruin it by scaring her off!”

He thought he heard her mutter something about horny lovebirds, but was too happy to care.


	18. Angie - Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are executed. And interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm 2 weeks late in updating this story, so I decided to publish this chapter at the same time as the last one! Hopefully this will make up for the wait!

Angie knew that Howard had prepared a surprise for her that night, but he had refused to give her a clue. He had even roped Peggy into his scheme. Her roommate was not to interrupt their evening and she had categorically refused to divulge any information.

“I thought you were on my side!” Angie had exclaimed as Peggy was heading out.

“I am. But I don’t think he’s so bad for you anymore.”

Angie had rolled her eyes. Of all the times for her friend to come to that conclusion, she had to reach it when it was the least convenient for Angie!

Howard had merely instructed her to stay at home and wear the dress she liked best. Angie had picked something she hoped was appropriate for the occasion; a cocktail dress she had only worn twice before. A deep midnight blue, it revealed her shoulders and hugged her chest before it spread wide at her hips. The last time she had worn it, it was for a date with Howard in a fancy restaurant. The face he had made upon seeing her then was more than enough incentive to make the dress Angie’s favorite.

That had been one memorable night.

She was waiting anxiously now, expecting him to come in with his car and bring her some place equally fancy as that night. That was what he meant when he had said surprise, right?

Angie knew it was a bit materialistic of her, but she loved the shine and bustle you found in expensive restaurants, where all the movie stars gravitated. It was so far from her childhood, mostly spent in the streets where the best form of entertainment was a pool of rain or whatever you managed to see of the movie screen when you had sneaked in and hid from the ushers.

When he arrived though, he wasn’t alone.

“Howard, what’s all this?” she asked, staring at the handful of people – including Jarvis – that were coming in.

“I thought we’d have better chance at having a quiet evening if we brought the restaurant to us, instead of going there ourselves. I don’t want anything to ruin our anniversary.”

Angie was laughing as she saw a man carrying a heavy box containing the ingredients of their dinner inside, when her head swiveled back to him.

“Anniversary? Howard, we haven’t been dating for a year -”

“Six months, I’d say that’s an important milestone, don’t you think?”

He took her hand to kiss it and wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her laugh again.

“I love to hear you laugh.”

She smiled at him.

“And I love you. Let’s get inside before they take over the house and lock us out!”

The dinner was going well. It was going very well in fact; the food was delicious, the decorations, put up by a woman who had since left, changed the dining room so drastically Angie didn’t recognize it anymore and, of course, Howard was perfect.

“Thank you, Howard. You didn’t need to do all this -”

“I thought our relationship was worth celebrating.”

He took her hand in his across the table.

Angie took a deep breath. She had a bit of a surprise herself, but she didn’t think it was one that Howard would be too happy about.

“There’s… Something I need to tell you.”

“I’m all ears,” he encouraged her, and Angie grimaced.

“It’s… About the place I work, the theater?”

“Yes?”

“I’m part of the main cast for the upcoming play.”

“Angie, that’s fantastic!” he congratulated with sincerity. “It’s good that they recognize your worth, you’ve been relegated to a second place for far too long!”

Angie had a precarious smile.

“Thank you. It means a lot that you think so much of me – but – it’s just that – I’ll have to spend a lot more time working. Since I’m no longer an understudy, I’ll be at most representations – not just once in a while.”

Howard nodded.

“I understand. And it’s a good thing. You shouldn’t put anything before your dream.”

Angie squeezed his hand in hers.

“You know, you’re nothing like what I imagined you would be before I got to meet you.”

“I like to think that’s a compliment.”

Angie laughed and lost herself in his eyes for a moment. The quiet moments between them were just as good as the ones when they spoke.

“I have a confession to make,” he suddenly broke the silence.

“A confession?”

He seemed nervous.

“Yes – I did not plan this evening just for our anniversary. I have something to ask you.”

Angie took his hand with both of hers, and gave it a reassuring press.

“Let’s hear it then.”

Before Howard could formulate his thoughts though, there was a loud crashing sound from the front of the house that made them both jump from their seat. The motion broke their hands apart.

“What is it now?” Howard growled under his breath, taking a step forward.

Angie took a step back; she was the closest to the source of the sound and she had found it particularly alarming.

“That can’t be the cook or Jarvis, can it? They’re at the back -” she started before the explosion sent her flying against the wall.


	19. Howard - Ignore Every Phone Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone got hurt...

The cloud of dust filled the room up to the ceiling and Howard pushed himself up from the floor, coughing.

“Angie?” he called out, an icy dread infiltrating his blood.

His heart was beating fast and loud, only encouraged by his growing panic.

He scanned the room in search of Angie. The blast had started in another room and only a small part of the dining room’s walls had been affected, but the explosion had been powerful enough to push them back.

The dust was slowly settling down, and Howard saw Angie’s silhouette laying on the floor, unconscious, near the wall opposite to the one that had been affected.

“Angie!”

He ran to her side. She wasn’t moving. His heart’s beat became deafening. He searched for her pulse erratically, two fingers going to her neck underneath her hair.

A small tremor of life eased his fears somewhat. He pushed the nightmarish image that had already formed in his mind of her cold, lifeless eyes staring into nothingness.

He knew that moving her might be dangerous if she had landed wrong, but he also knew that another explosive thrown inside the house would do a lot more damage.

He scooped her up as best as he could, swearing at himself for the weakness in his knees and his trembling hands. His ears were still ringing from the blast and he struggled to stand upright, but he had to take her out of there.

Once he had her in his arms, he got away from the point of explosion, still coughing and crying from the dust in his eyes.

“Sir!” called Jarvis’ voice. “Sir, what happened?”

“I’m here Jarvis! Tell everyone to get away from the front of the house, someone threw a Molotov Cocktail at the front!”

A nasty thing that could be improvised with very few ingredients. Not very elaborate, but very efficient. That had been the first sound they had heard, and that was what had created the flames that he could now see had started to spread.

“They also threw a hand grenade inside the hall!

He stepped over a chair that fallen sideways and got to the door leading to the kitchen.

Someone had thrown an improvised explosive only to have it followed up by a grenade, so there was a chance they didn’t mean to linger. Hit strong and then run, that was the best-case scenario – but even then, he had to take Angie to safety before the house crumbled; the blast had been strong enough to affect a wall, and over time more debris could fall.

Despite the ringing in his ears, Howard thought he heard the calls of an ambulance’s sirens - but no, he must have had imagined it. Even if someone had called them as soon as the explosion had happened, they couldn’t have arrived so soon.

Jarvis opened the door just as Howard was about to push through it with his shoulder.

“Oh dear,” Jarvis whispered when he saw Angie in his arms. “Quick, this way!”

“Howard! Angie!”

Howard’s head snapped to the sound of Peggy’s voice. What was happening here?

It was only once he had reached the kitchen and laid Angie on the table there that he risked himself at answering Peggy’s call.

He headed out again, placing himself between the perceived threat and the kitchen and standing at the edge of the dining room where the last remnants of dust were finally settling.

“Peggy? Are we still in danger?”

The SSR agent stepped in through the hole that the explosion had made in the wall; the door had become useless, clinging desperately to one of its hinges.

“Don’t worry about another explosion, I’ve arrested the man responsible,” Peggy declared. “He got his hands on my home address and thought I would be home; I was the target.”

“This is your fault?”

The accusation had escaped his lips before he could understand his own anger.

Angie was hurt because of this man, and the man had been trying to get at Peggy.

His friend avoided his eyes.

Howard could only contain his rage at the declaration because of how guilty she seemed to feel. And, he reasoned, he knew she wasn’t truly responsible. Whoever had leaked the address had been too incompetent to keep the secrecy of the agent’s residence, the most basic requirement for a secret agency, and incompetent, Peggy was not.

It was that sort of mess that made Howard think that the SSR was an antiquity that needed replacement.

Reassured that there was no longer a threat, Howard headed back to Angie’s side, Peggy trailing behind him.

“I came as soon as I learned what he was planning; there’s an ambulance coming -”

She stopped in her tracks when she saw Angie laying unconscious on the kitchen table.

“Oh god, I am so sorry. I tried to call to warn you but...”

But he had told Jarvis to ignore every phone calls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Don't look to hard at the explanation about the explosions? Please? I wanted to make more research but then realized I didn't want to learn everything related too explosives in the late 40's for something that doesn't influence the story past "it went kaboom and someone got hurt"... Especially considering that I'm a writer whose search history already contains lots of weird queries about death, bloodloss and all that other fun stuff. :D


	20. Angie - Anchor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hospitals do not make for the most romantic setting - especially when your doctor starts speaking about your bodily functions in front of your significant other without warning right after you wake up.

Angie groaned weakly. The back of her head hurt too much for a simple hungover. What had happened? Everything was a blur…

An aseptic smell filled her lungs. All of her limbs were so heavy… A bed, she was resting on a bed. It wasn’t very comfortable; she was sinking into the mattress and the blanket over her was scratchy.

She blinked, and her vision slowly came into focus, showing her Howard that was jumping from his seat to come closer to her side.

“Angel! Oh, you’re awake, I was so worried -”

“Ho-ward? What… Happened?”

He seemed to move much faster than she could follow.

“Everything is fine now,” he reassured her with a hand softly pressed against her forehead. “We’re at the hospital, they’re taking good care of you.”

“Hospital?”

What the hell had led her to a hospital? The last thing she remembered, they were having dinner at her and Peggy’s place, and then… And then she didn’t remember.

Her blue cocktail dress was gone, replaced with a hospital gown, and there was a hesitant light coming through the window. Dawn or dusk, maybe. She had no idea how long had passed.

“Miss Martinelli!” called a man from behind Howard, startling her out of her observations. “Good to see you’re awake.”

Howard shifted a bit to the side and she saw that the man was dressed in a white blouse – a doctor?

His clothes made her think to check Howard’s, and she noticed that his still wore the elegant suit he had had during their dinner. It also looked like he had spent all night awake at her side from the bags underneath his eyes.

“Now, there’s no need to worry,” continued the man in a blouse, “You have a mild concussion, but you just need to rest for a week – to be safe, let’s say a week and a half. You’ll be released within the day.”

Howard had taken her hand in his and was rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. The smoothing gesture felt like an anchor when everything else was oscillating around her.

“Don’t you need to make further testing?” asked Howard.

The doctor looked pointedly at Howard and Angie had the feeling the two had been butting head for quite some time over the matter already.

“I can assure you, Mr. Stark, we have done all that was necessary – and even a bit more at your insistence. Any further examination would be superfluous and tire Miss Martinelli needlessly – and she needs rest. Lots, and lots of rest.”

He turned towards her.

“Do you have any question I might answer, Miss?”

Angie was still as confused.

“What happened? I don’t – I don’t remember. We were at dinner and – and then...”

“It’s perfectly normal, concussions often come with a bit of memory loss. You might also feel some nausea – there’s a bucket near your bed in case you have to vomit.”

Angie blinked at him like he was the one emitting the bleak light above her head. He had a very matter-of-fact approach to her symptoms and she did not think her vomiting was something she really wanted to discuss in front of Howard.

 _I guess there’s a first time for everything_ , she thought as he continued, unperturbed by her owlish expression:

“I’d also recommend you avoid any form of exercise or even something as simple as walking. Your balance probably won’t be good for that for another few days. And avoid talking too much as well. Don’t read if it gives you a headache.”

Angie stared with consternation as the list of things she wasn’t allowed to do was getting longer and longer.

“As for what caused your concussion,” he finally concluded, “I’ll let your friend fill in the blanks.”

The man left abruptly. Angie realized that with each additional sentence in his speech she had clung tighter to Howard at her left. It was a bit overwhelming.

“Was someone else hurt?”

“No, Angel, everyone is fine. You got the worst of it.”

Howard then went on to explain what had caused the explosion: a man Peggy was trying to put behind bars had found her home address and, thinking she was inside, had thrown explosives through one of the front windows, which they hadn’t been too far from. Thankfully, Peggy had learned of his location and ran back home to arrest him before he had the time to throw more of them.

“The explosion blew us off and you got knocked out cold,” Howard finished his explanation.

“And you’re fine?”

“Yes, Angel, I was luckier than you.”

He pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. Angie momentarily wondered what she must have looked like after a night spent in a hospital bed. She doubted anyone had bothered with cleaning her make-up. She must have been frightful sight. One would not think so from Howard’s expression though. He looked at her like she was the most precious thing he had laid his eyes upon.

“I don’t want you to live with Peggy anymore,” he said abruptly.

“I-what? You can’t blame her for that, she couldn’t have predicted-”

Angie was ready to defend her friend, but Howard corrected himself quickly:

“No – I mean – the house is in no state to live in and – I just - I just wish we could live together already.”

Angie’s head injury must have slowed her thought process because it took her a bit longer than it should have to answer, and when she did, her words seemed to come out of nowhere:

“Shouldn’t we get married for that first?”

Even if it had only been said as a weird way to flirt, Angie immediately regretted telling him that. What was she thinking, talking of marriage so lightly? That was a subject she always carefully avoided around him – she didn’t want to spook him!

She never would have said such a thing without the concussion.

“We can get married if you want.”

Taken aback, Angie stared at him with round eyes and mouth slightly agape.

He quickly tried to take his words back though:

“No – wait – that’s not what I meant – I didn’t – Crap!”

“Hey,” she laid her hand on his arm to stop his frantic movement.

He spoke with his hands when he was panicked, which didn’t happen all too often.

“It’s OK,” she continued with a soft voice, “I know you didn’t mean it, we don’t have to get married – I don’t know why I said that -”

She did her best to hide how much it hurt to see him panic at the mere idea of marrying her. It was true that she hadn’t meant it like that, but she hadn’t thought he would be that repulsed by the idea.

“No, I want to marry you!” he contradicted himself again.

Angie was truly lost. She understood what the doctor meant by getting a headache from a simple conversation now. Either her brain wasn’t following or this conversation didn’t make a lick of sense.

“Howard – just tell me if you’re asking me to marry you or not because I don’t follow.”

“No! I mean yes, I wanted to ask you, but not like this!”

He motioned towards their surroundings to highlight the hospital bed and the bleak light hanging above them.

Finally, Angie was starting to understand – just as she remembered a bit more about the dinner they had before she fell unconscious.

“Was that what you wanted to ask me? The reason behind last night’s dinner?”

Howard sighed and his head fell onto the mattress for a few seconds before he faced her again.

“Originally, yes. Then I asked Peggy to leave us alone for the night, and when I told her why she told me I might have been moving too fast, so I thought I could simply ask you to move in with me – but then even that got interrupted!”

Angie was smiling so wide she thought her cheeks might soon start to hurt.

“We don’t have much luck with getting interrupted all the time, huh?”

“Tell me about it. At least if we lived together we’d get to spend a bit more time alone,” he pleaded.

She remembered how the constant interruptions had driven him up the wall and how poor of a job he had done not to show it. Somehow that had made her appreciate even more the moments they had – because of how obviously annoyed he was with having to postpone what they wanted to do.

“I’ll have to warn the theater about the wedding dates though. They’ll need an understudy during the honeymoon as well.”

He must have been as tired as she felt, because it took him a few seconds to react.

“… Are you telling me you’ll marry me?” he realized with glee.

“What do you think? Of course I want to marry you, genius!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I can reveal that the prompt for this story was the following line : “I wish we could live together already”.  
> ... One line and I end up writing 20 chapters just to get to it, I need to learn how to write things a bit more compact!


	21. Howard - Drunk and Exhausted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angie leaves the hospital - but not before receiving another visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've done it again. I've gone several weeks without posting (on the bright side, I found a job for the next couple of months so uh, I'll say taht's my excuse. Yup. That's totally why I was distracted.)  
> To make up for it, Here are chapter 19, 20 and 21 all at once! BATCH UPDATE!!!

Exhaustion was no match for the joy he felt in this instant. If being loved felt like drinking rhum, then Howard was drunk.

He almost kissed Angie the moment she accepted, but then stopped himself at the last second, going instead for a simple brush of his knuckles against her forehead. She needed rest, she was injured. He could kiss her later, once she felt better.

“I didn’t think you’d want to,” he told her in a soft voice.

“Howard, I’ve been trying to hide the depths of my feelings from you for months now.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I didn’t allow myself to believe you truly returned them until you started talking about marriage,” she admitted. “Love is a scary feeling.”

He wanted to tell her that there was nothing scary about loving her, but the last few hours proved him wrong. It was terrifying.

Right now, he wanted to focus on the bliss he felt though.

“You’ve just made me the happiest man,” he said with honesty, squeezing her hand gently in his.

“I never understand how you can say the corniest things and still make me want to jump your bones,” she grinned at him.

“There will be no bone jumping, you insatiable wench. You have a concussion!”

“Ugh, what’s the point in having a good excuse to lie in bed all day if I can’t use it to my advantage?”

“Shh,” he kissed her brow. “You lay pretty and rest.”

“You need to sleep too,” she pointed out. “You look exhausted.”

He hadn’t managed to find sleep, not while she had been there, laying unconscious. Believing her to be dead, even for a second, had brought him back to the dark months that had followed Steve’s disappearance, when everything had seemed bleak and harsh and cold, and when even winning the war hadn’t lifted his spirits. Except it had been worse this time, like someone stealing his lungs and bludgeoning his heart repeatedly with a blunt object, each blow digging deeper and deeper in a slow, but determined manner.

How could he have slept before she woke up and eased his fears?

“Did you stay in that chair all night?” her concern warmed some of the cold dread that had dug its claws into him.

“Angel, sleep. You need it.”

“Only if you sleep too,” she protested even as she started yawning.

“I’ll be right here, Angel.”

He slept on the side of her bed, bending to lay his head on the side of the mattress. It wasn’t comfortable, but it reassured him to hold her hand while he finally allowed himself to shut his eyes.

They woke up when the doctor, the one that was so quick to dismiss his concerns, came back to tell them Angie could go. Howard was planning on calling another doctor – one of his choosing, not someone randomly picked by the hospital – to make another check on Angie’s state. Just in case.

They were about to leave for his house – well, one of his houses, the residence Angie had resided in was technically also his house – when a familiar, tall, dark-haired man barreled down the corridor.

Howard already knew the powers that’d be hated him, but that was just another cherry on top of the bitter cake.

“Angie!” called Nino when he saw his sister, limping with great speed and determination in their direction.

There was nothing wrong with Angie’s brother being concerned with her well-being. In fact, Howard was glad she had a family that cared. Both his parents were dead and he never had had much else in regards to family. It could get pretty lonely. Plus, he thought, a bit giddily, they’d need people to fill the benches at their wedding.

However, he knew that with his luck, Nino would probably object to his sister coming with him – and that was before he even took into consideration his proposal, which they had both decided to keep quiet for now, at least until Angie felt better.

The part of him that felt guilty for what had happened at Angie and Peggy’s house found Nino would have been in his right to protest. The part of him that was much more focused on the fact that Angie had accepted to marry him did not care and wished to take his future wife back home where he could take care of her.

“I came as soon as I heard,” assured Nino. “I haven’t told Mom and Dad just yet -”

“Please, don’t tell them,” pressed Angie. “I’ll tell them myself the next time we see each other, but there is no need to worry them. I just have a concussion.”

“That never should have happened,” Nino sent a dark glare in Howard’s direction.

He didn’t reply, for once agreeing with the other man.

“That was not Howard’s fault,” Angie immediately took his defense.

Nino raised his hands to calm her down.

“All right, all right, I don’t want to have that conversation now.”

A nurse walking past them threw them a curious look and a patient was ogling the scene from his bed. Howard almost closed his door before deciding that the old chump could do with the entertainment if he had been stuck in his bed with nothing else than the radio to pass the time.

“I took the car, I’ll help you get back home,” Nino continued.

“Oh, I already have a place to stay.”

Nino’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Howard inwardly sighed. Why couldn’t anything be simple?

“She’s staying with me for a time,” he said, not acknowledging that they both planned on it being a much longer arrangement.

He already knew that getting Nino to accept to even letting Angie have a temporary stay at his house was going to be a struggle, and they were both drained.

“I – Angie, you can come home with me I -”

“I don’t think Elena needs the additional worry,” Angie pointed out. “You should be thinking about the baby first.”

“Congratulations, by the way,” Howard added. “Angie told me Elena was pregnant?”

“That’s not -” Nino hissed. “We shouldn’t be talking about this,” he whispered furiously. “I told you that in confidence!”

Ah, yes. Howard had almost forgotten about the shot-gun wedding Nino had to prepare. He and his girlfriend were already planning on getting married soon, but Elena’s sudden pregnancy was hurrying those plans along.

It seemed everyone was getting married right now. Howard wondered if Peggy and that Sousa guy she was always with would get hitched soon too.

“Howard’s not judging, are you _tesoro_?” Angie asked him, wincing as she turned her head too fast.

Howard let her lean on him a bit more, smoothing her hair as she put her forehead on his shoulder.

“Of course not. Why would I be judging?”

Angie and him hadn’t really broached the subject of children. They probably ought to speak about it before the wedding, but whatever her opinion on the matter was, he was fairly certain he’d agree with it.

“That’s not the point!” Nino protested and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

“You’re right, the point is that you should get back to your future wife, worry about her and let Howard be the one worrying about me,” Angie gave a cheeky smile to her brother.

“Angie -”

“Do you think Mom would like to have a boy or a girl as a grandchild first?” mused Angie.

Nino paled. The reason behind precipitated wedding was a secret to his parents as well, and he was hoping to keep it that way. Angie’s threat was veiled enough that no one could have accused her of making one, but Nino seemed to understand the message very well.

“… I’ll leave you two to it then,” Nino relented, his lips a thin pressed line. “Be careful,” he added with a gentle voice before leaving.

“Your brother loves you very much,” said Howard, watching him disappear around the corner of the corridor.

The two of them continued their own progression, taking their time.

“Yes, he does. But he’s such a worrier.”

“Worse than Peggy,” Howard agreed.

“How long do you think before one of them comes to see us again?”

“Honestly Angel, I’m not sure we’ll make it out of the hospital before we meet someone else objecting to me taking you back home.”


	22. Angie - Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy apologizes to Angie and learns the good news.

Peggy hadn’t visited Angie at the hospital; the SSR agent had been busy insuring no other armed maniac would come after her and her roommate. Even if she would miss being close to Peggy all the time, Angie thought it wasn’t such a bad thing they stopped living together. Of course, because she was happy of her move in with Howard, but also because the attack had made her realize how little she knew about her roommate’s job and how dangerous it was.

“I am so sorry -”

“English, you’ve said that already. Three times! Don’t worry, I’m fine now, and I understand.”

Peggy rubbed her brow before her hands went back to grasp nervously at her knees. She was sitting next to Angie’s bed.

Howard had been very insistent on his self-attributed nurse duties. He didn’t want Angie to get up for more than five minutes and he had already warned them that their conversation wouldn’t last longer than thirty minutes.

Since Angie’s activities had been limited to laying on her bed and nothing else, she was very grateful for Peggy’s visit; it kept the dullness of her day at bay. And to think she’d have to do this for at least six more days!

“You know,” she thought out loud, “if you really want to make amends you could help me convince Howard to let me listen to the radio.”

Peggy gave her a wobbly smile and Angie realized that her friend was on the verge of crying.

Peggy never cried. Except that one time, when someone had died.

“Hey, hey,” she scooted closer to take Peggy’s hand, “what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry,” Peggy apologized again, but this time for the tear that was rolling on her cheek and her creased chin, “I just – I...”

She breathed in deeply.

“I’ve never told you about Colleen, have I?”

Angie shook her head slowly. Sudden movements made her feel like she was on a boat.

“She was my previous roommate. Just before I moved into the Griffith, she was killed – by my fault – and the same almost happened again -”

Peggy’s speech was becoming erratic with sobs and Angie dragged her into a hug.

“Shhh, shh, I’m here, let it out.”

Angie passed her fingers through her friend’s hair in what she hoped was a calming motion. Sometimes, you just needed to cry for a bit and then you’d feel better. She didn’t think it would be enough to assuage Peggy’s guilt, but it would be a start.

Once Peggy stopped sobbing, they stayed in their hug for a few more minutes.

“I’m sorry for your friend,” said Angie.

“Me too. She was great.”

Peggy detached herself from Angie, sniffling, and wiped her eyes.

“I’m making everything about myself again, and ruining the mood,” she tried to say in a lighter voice despite her throat still being sore. “So, Howard asked you to move in with him?”

Angie knew better than to press the subject of Colleen’s death and how Peggy still bore the guilt for it, and so she let it slide, promising herself to bring it up another time to see if her friend still needed to work through it. For now, it seemed Peggy wanted to move on to something that would distract her.

“He’s actually done more than that,” Angie admitted, a smile already playing on her lips.

It was to remain a secret for now, but not for a few select persons. Howard and her had agreed on telling Jarvis – who had seemed so overjoyed at the idea of his employer finally settling down that he had almost kissed her. He had settled for running with the news to his wife, Anna, another person they had agreed on telling. Angie didn’t know the Hungarian redhead very well, but she had a feeling they would both be great friends.

And, of course, they had decided they would tell Peggy.

(Angie thought Howard was enjoying the prospect of rubbing it in her face just a tiny little bit)

“M-more? Did he -?”

“He proposed to me!” Angie’s voice went up an octave from excitation.

It had only been a day but she didn’t see how she could feel anything else than pure joy at it.

“He did? And you said yes?” Peggy was astonished, and a small smile started to answer Angie’s.

The actress felt relief at seeing the remnants of Peggy’s crying session disappear from her expression. Her friend’s face was not made to be sad.

“Of course I said yes! I never imagined he would propose – I think it took us both by surprised because it sort of escalated when we were at the hospital? He didn’t mean to ask me, but then I made a stupid joke so he blurted it out, and now we’re engaged,” Angie finished her rapid-fire tirade with a happy sigh.

“That’s great news, Angie.”

“Really, you’re not gonna tell me to run away from his ‘crass, disgusting, womanizing ways’?” she quoted her friend back at her.

That was a nice trick to do when you had trained yourself to memorize countless lines from all sorts of plays; you could remember a whole lot of things that your friends told you to throw it back into their faces word for word – hopefully in a playful way like right now instead of in an actual fight.

“The only way in which he has behaved disgustingly as of late was when he was disgustingly sweet with you, Angie. I didn’t think I’d see the day, but you might make an honest man out of him yet.”

“That means a lot coming from you, English.”

And she meant it. She had thought she’d have to plead her case a lot more to convince her friend not to charge Howard in anger after she had told her the news.

“I didn’t think you’d want to be married so quickly, or I wouldn’t have told Howard to wait.”

Angie avoided her friend’s eyes. She hadn’t been as open with Peggy about her feelings as she wished she had. Since she had started dating Howard, she had affected a carefree attitude, pretending that she was just having fun. It didn’t take all that well, Peggy knew her better, but she still had hid her fears and hopes, afraid Peggy would confirm her own suspicions; that she was much more involved in the relationship than Howard was. Voicing those concerns out loud to Peggy would only have made them realer still, and Angie had been desperate to avoid facing them.

“I think,” she said slowly, finally admitting what she had known for a long time now, “that if Howard left me, I would be utterly destroyed.”

“Angie,” Peggy called softly.

Angie looked up to her friend as she took her hand in hers.

“He stayed by your side all night. And you should have seen him when we didn’t know how hurt you were – he’s not going anywhere.”

“Well, he’s leaving for Los Angeles in two days,” Angie tried to joke to alleviate the serious tone of the conversation, “but hopefully he’ll come back a day after that like he promised.”

“I’m surprised he even allows himself to leave you for a day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breaking my bad habits and publishing this chapter on the intended date ~


	23. Howard - Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard takes advantage of his trip to LA to do some shopping.

Howard almost didn’t leave. He didn’t want to. The only reason he even let Angie out of his sight was because he knew Jarvis would take good care of her.

(if he was being honest, probably an even better care than Howard could provide)

Unfortunately, life did not interrupt itself just because you got engaged and your fiancee was recuperating from a head injury. The trip to L.A. would be a short one. It had been organized weeks in advance, and he thought he might take advantage of it to do some shopping.

The ring he had bought as a gift, all those months ago, had been lost in the chaos at some point – not that it mattered. He had never meant to use it for a proposal.

Angie was ring-less. He had to fix it. He had already botched the proposal in a phenomenal way, he did not intend on doing the same with the rest of the traditions. Howard had never been big on traditions that did not fit him, but he liked the idea of the ring. Something Angie could look at and feel happy about.

His press conference for Stark Pictures seemed to drag on forever, but when he looked at his watch, he realized it had only taken his morning. He had the rest of the day to do as he pleased and he would go home early in the morning tomorrow.

He already knew where he would go. There was a jewelry store he was very familiar with, but that he had never visited with such a serious idea in mind.

“Mr. Stark!” greeted Amanda, the redhead who held the store, with a bright smile.

He remembered trying to flirt with her the first time he had come here, but she had quickly shot him down. She was very happily married and told him as such when he had insisted in his advances. Amanda had been a bit cautious with him during his next visits, but once it appeared he would not try anything further than some light flirting – something he often did regardless of his intention, that was ingrained in the way he communicated with people – she had relaxed. Howard liked to think that they were, at the very least, on friendly terms.

“We haven’t received any Stark’s Special order in a very long time, even as I saw you were in LA not so long ago. I was starting to get worried something might have happened to you!”

“Long time no seen indeed. In a way, I suppose something did happen,” he nodded, his eyes already drifting to the case containing the rings.

Amanda immediately noticed his interest.

“You usually pick bracelets and necklaces. Have all these months without a visit drastically changed your tastes?”

“Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you missed me!” he said cheekily.

“Mister Stark, you are one of our most profitable buyers – or at least, you were!”

Hmm, he realized now he had been so used to buying jewelry to women only as a parting gift that he hadn’t bought that many ornaments for Angie. One odd necklace here and there did not count, especially when she found them too precious to be worn at any other occasion than on their ‘fancy nights out’, as she called their dates in restaurants.

He ought to buy her things more. Especially if she was to become his wife – that thought still sent a little shiver of exhilaration down his spine.

“I think today’s purchase should make up for those months of absence.”

“Planning on something expensive?”

“Something very expensive. It’s not every day you buy a ring that’ll last a lifetime.”

Maybe even more if they had children to pass it down to. Howard had talked to Angie about it. Neither of them wanted children as of right now – Angie had just begun her career, Howard was in no hurry – but some day in the future, they would.

“I-I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood -” stammered Amanda, blinking rapidly.

“Hmm, yes, on second thought, I’d need an engagement and a wedding ring. I understand there’s a difference?”

Amanda stared at him with her brown eyes wide-opened, red lips parted in shock and hands falling at her side.

If the news of him getting married had that effect on everyone, he could not wait to make the public announcement. Angie wouldn’t be completely healed for another few days, so it would have to wait some more.

“Of course, I trust you to keep this a secret for now.”

He had gotten to know Amanda over the years and he knew that the establishment kept its clients’ anonymity and purchases a secret, so asking was but a formality.

“Of course, Mr. Stark!” the shopkeeper exclaimed, finally taking back control over her limbs.

She brushed imaginary dust over the skirt of her red dress to regain countenance and shook her head as if trying to recover from being stunted.

“That explains your conspicuous absence in certain tabloids,” she commented to herself.

Howard’s mind drifted back to Gilly Barly, but that had been a mere blip on the radar.

“Congratulations,” she said with sincerity. “Marriage is a wonderful thing.”

“I remember. You told me so the first time we met.”

Amanda shook her head with a smile at the memory. She bent down to grab a plank of wood covered in black cushion to display a selection of rings.

“Wouldn’t have believed you were one to settle down if someone had told me so, back then,” she said as he perused the selection.

She still seemed to be talking mostly to herself, but he chuckled and answered:

“Me neither. I guess even I can change. Do you have anything smaller? I like this one,” he pointed at a large diamond on one of the pricier rings, “but I know she’d find it too heavy.”

“Delicate fingers?”

Howard thought on Angie’s nimble fingers and how, over the months, she had mastered the art of turning him into a puppet between her hands with a few, well-placed strokes.

“… You could say that,” he stopped his mind from wandering further down the gutter, “but it’s mostly that she’d appreciate not having it hit something every time she moves her hands.”

Amanda nodded. Her own ring was elegant, but practical.

“Maybe something like yours,” he pointed at it. “but with something blue?”

Something to go with Angie’s playful eyes.

Amanda nodded and presented him with another assortment.

It wasn’t until he was done choosing that he realized two hours had passed. He had considered going somewhere else until it caught his eye. Almost perfect; just a shade too dark and a carat too few.

“That one will be the basis for it,” he had finally decided.

He had had some ideas as to what it would look like, but also knew he’d settle on a final design once he had seen what was already out there. After that, it didn’t take him much longer to give Amanda the specifications for the final design. Both rings would be custom, both taking a few inspirations from what he had seen there, and to be perfectly fitted for Angie’s hand.

“Where shall we ship the rings once they are done?” inquired Amanda.

“Jarvis will take care of picking it up from the New York shop.”

It had been a while since he hadn’t seen Albert. The man was a big fan of his Stark Special bracelet; he’d probably be chagrined to learn there wouldn’t be any need for the production of any other. Howard wondered how the man would take it if he offered him one.

“Take care, Amanda. And say high to Tom for me!”

“Thank you for your visit Mr. Stark! And congratulations again!”

Howard pushed the door of the shop opened and was surprised by the gust of wind that almost knocked him over. That weather wasn’t usual – not at this time of the year.

He was readjusting his suit when he saw a glint at the corner of his eye. He distractedly threw a glance in the direction of it, almost went on his way, then squinted at it. There was something in the bush.

Howard swore under his breath, but pretended that he hadn’t seen anything and walked on. He prayed his imagination had been playing him, but he had enough experience with paparazzi to realize when there was a camera aimed at him.

As soon as he got home, Georges, who was acting as his temporary butler while Jarvis stayed with Angie, confirmed his suspicions.

“You have received a call from Miss Tenner, sir. She seemed rather alarmed and asked if you could call her back.”

“I think I know what this is about, Georges,” he sighed.

He called the jewelry store and Amanda picked up the phone almost instantaneously.

“Mr. Stark, I am sorry to disturb you so soon after you left, but this is important.”

“I am all ears,” he said with an apprehension growing in his stomach.

“A man came in right after you left. He started asking questions about what you were buying – I didn’t tell him anything but there was still a display of rings outside -”

“Thank you for warning me Amanda. I suspected as much; I think I saw him when I left.”

“I am truly sorry Mr. Stark.”

“Don’t worry about it, Amanda, you did nothing wrong. I should have been more careful.”

One of the journalists must have followed him after the press conference. Hopefully it would remain a small rumor; most people wouldn’t believe him to be buying a wedding ring, especially if the only source was a measly tabloid. He wanted to make his relationship with Angie public under their own terms, even if he knew it would be a difficult task. It was a miracle it had remained a secret for as long as it had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that?? Another chapter published exactly when I planned on my timeline?????  
> I'm on a roll!


	24. Angie - Boredom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out that gust of wind might have been a bit more than just a gust of wind.

Angie was dying of boredom in her room. The curtains, drawn to avoid the light of day, the closed door and a radio repeating the same twenty commercials were her only companions. The radio had been placed next to her bed so she could change the channel.

Every channel sounded the same after a while.

She threw a sad glance at the empty space next to her. This was Howard’s room before it became theirs. They had been sleeping in the same bed three nights before he had left – it hadn’t been the first time they had done so, but it had been the first time while they were living together, under the same roof. Since he had left for Los Angeles the morning before, she had spent the night alone.

It had been cold, lonely, and frankly depressing.

He’d be back later that day though, so she was already feeling better at the perspective of seeing him again.

Maybe she wouldn’t have missed him so much if she had had things to busy her mind and - and if that darn national broadcast weather jingle wasn’t playing again!

She turned to the radio with murderous eyes at hearing the same sounds for the hundredth time in such a short time and was about to change the channel – or even turn off the radio – when the newscaster’s words interrupted her:

“Los Angeles in turmoil! Strong winds have started during the night and are becoming stronger this morning! Citizens advised to stay at home for the duration of the upcoming storm!”

Angie moaned in discontent. With her luck, that would make flying too dangerous and delay Howard’s return.

The Stark mansion had phones in every room, just like the smaller – and Angie still couldn’t believe her last residence was somehow smaller than the new one – house she had resided in before the assault. Jarvis had disconnected the one in the master bedroom where Angie was forced to rest so she wouldn’t be bothered by the ringing in the middle of a nap.

She was so tired of napping.

If only she could have called someone… Maybe a talk with her mother? She knew Peggy was at work...

A knock at her door almost made her bounce with excitement.

“Yes?”

Jarvis poked his head inside.

“I am sorry to disturb you, but Mr. Stark is on the line for you.”

He wouldn’t have called if he was already on his way… Angie was afraid her hunch was being confirmed.

She still greeted him with enthusiasm once Jarvis had reconnected the call and exited the room to leave their privacy.

“Howard! It’s good to hear your voice. I miss you.”

“Hello Angel. Did you sleep well?”

“Not when you’re not sleeping next to me. Who am I supposed to cling to?”

“You’re still resting, aren’t you? I don’t want to return to learn you’ve started wandering around the mansion!”

Angie sighed. She had wanted to explore her new place of residence better, now that she wasn’t simply staying over a few hours when she saw Howard, but that also had had to wait until the time imposed by the doctor was over. She felt completely fine and she wanted to get out of bed, but that was impossible when she was constantly under watch.

“Don’t worry, your jailer is doing a good job keeping me in this room,” Angie said flatly, referring to Jarvis.

Howard laughed on the other end of the receiver.

“Sweetheart, it’s not for much longer, and you know that’s the doctor’s orders!”

Howard had called another doctor to check on her once they had gotten home, and he had confirmed the diagnosis of the first one.

“Hmm. Why did you call me? I heard there had been stronger winds than planned on the radio.”

Howard sighed.

“Yes. I won’t be able to make the trip back just yet.”

He sounded as frustrated as she felt.

“Damn.”

“I also wanted to warn you before you saw it in the newspaper -”

“I won’t be seeing anything; I’m not allowed to read, remember?”

What she wouldn’t do for a good book or a script to study right now.

“Still, I wanted to tell you before you learned it from somewhere else – like on the radio. Do you remember Billie Gaily?”

The actress that had sucked faces with her man.

“Gillian Bailey,” she corrected him. “The actress that was in that ‘Falling Hard’ movie?”

“Uh, yes. There are rumors circulating that I’m dating her. And that the relationship would... be a serious one.”

Hearing him being so uncomfortable as he told her the news alone reassured her, even if she didn’t like the resurgence of the other actress.

Bailey was good at what she did – when she wasn’t jumping on the first man within reach of her clutches to kiss him against his consent. Angie might have even liked her if she had been introduced to her in any other way than through the compromising photograph.

“And why is that?”

“… I didn’t want to tell you to keep the surprise, but I was buying you a gift and I was caught on camera doing so. Bailey is the only woman the tabloids know of that I have – allegedly – had a relationship with in months, so they’re making a fuss around it.”

“Oh. That makes sense. You bought me a gift?”

“It’s still a surprise, you’ll see it when I get back – but only if you’re a good girl and rest like you’re supposed to,” she could hear the teasing in his voice.

A wicked idea crossed Angie’s mind just then.

“You know,” she said slowly, still thinking it through. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

“Angel, what are you talking about? If you do something reckless, you’ll just need more time to recover -” he started chastising her.

The idea was now fully formed, and she stated with a new found confidence:

“But Howard, how am I supposed to be a good girl if you’re not here with me?”

She had taken the husky voice she knew drove him crazy.

“You -” Howard emitted a strangled sound, and Angie knew he had understood where she was going with this.

“Where are you right now?”

“In my office, but -”

“I’m in our bed,” she continued, knowing he was somewhere he wouldn’t be bothered, “but it’s so lonely without you -”

She let out a deep, longing sigh and started to let her hand trailed down her body.

It might not be his fault for not being on a plane back to her, but she could certainly give him motivation to come back faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering *everything*, I just thought I'd say, today, take care of yourself, wherever you are, whenever you read this, I wish you the best ❤


	25. Howard - Nothing You Could Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well. That escalated quickly.

Howard wasted no time getting up from behind his desk to turn the key on the door’s lock and draw close the curtains of his office before getting back to the phone. He wanted to dissuade Angie from continuing this while she was still recovering, but he knew that once she had set her mind on something she wasn’t easily derailed. He also knew what she could do to him with the mere sound of her voice.

He picked up the phone to put it back against his cheek. Angie’s breathing was loud and already ragged.

“Where did you go?”

“Closed the door – Angie, you’re in no state to start – to -”

Just imagining it was already driving him crazy.

“To start playing with myself?” she asked demurely.

Howard let a groan escape him. This was going to be pure torture.

“It’s not like you can do anything about it – ah!” she let out a small surprised sound.

Howard imagined her, sprawled on his bed – on their bed – in one of her night gown, hand between her thighs, tentatively exploring herself with her underwear still on. All of her nightgowns were white, sometimes made to be comfortable, sometimes made of of lace – nothing too elaborate but just enough that it enhanced how soft and inviting her skin was to him.

He was picturing her wearing one of the later.

“You’re so far away,” she continued between two heavy sighs, he imagined pouting like someone had stolen her candy, “and it’s so lonely here without you.”

She let out another sigh and Howard realized he was holding the receiver so tight he might break it. His free hand was shaking as he resisted the urge to undo his pants – jerking off in his office was not going to work out well since he didn’t have any way to clean up.

But damn if he didn’t want to.

“Your fingers feel so different than mine,” Angie continued, her voice getting back to an octave lower. “They’re so calloused, every – ah – every brush of them feels intense and – ah!”

Howard wanted to say something to stop her from talking, but every time she said something or let out a sound, he forgot how to use his mouth.

“Oh, I wish you were here with me,” Angie said.

Fuck, if she continued like this he wouldn’t even need to jerk off. Urged by her voice, he searched the drawer and thanked his past-self for leaving a box of condoms there. No need to worry about the clean-up now.

“I wish I was there with you too,” he growled.

“What would you do to me?”

Her breathlessness distracted him so much he struggled to pull down his pants.

“I’d get you to stop and rest, you demon,” he said in a last-ditch attempt at convincing her to stop, even as he was slipping the condom on.

She let out another profound sigh, before telling him:

“My panties were in the way, I got rid of them.”

Howard let his head fall on the desk, hoping the cold of the wooden surface would help him ground himself and stop his mind from picturing her – with her legs apart, her breast heaving and her eyes’ pupils going wide with desire -

Too late, he was already imagining it.

“Don’t tell me you’re still wearing your pants, Howard,” she teased him.

Resistance was futile against her. She would do as she pleased, concussion or not, so he might as well play along.

“I’m not,” he admitted, not recognizing the croak that came out of his throat.

“Good, I want you to take yourself in hand and think of me.”

“Way ahead of you.”

His hands didn’t feel like hers, that was true, but it could still get the work done if he just focused on the constant flow of sensuality pouring out of the receiver he had put on his desk.

“Hmm, I can just imagine what a pretty picture you make – ah!”

Her sharp intake of air was a giveaway of how far she had gone in building up to her orgasm.

“Oh, Howard, can you remember what it feels like when you’re in me? Filling me up with all of you – so warm and hard -”

Howard was unable to answer then, because he was much too busy visualizing her laying on their bed and thinking back on the smell of her hair when he buried his nose in her neck, the sweet taste of her skin and how wet and warm she was when she throbbed around him -

“Howa-”

The sound of her voice was abruptly cut off to be replaced by a loud beeping noise, then by nothing.

“What the hell?” he swore at the phone who continued to lay uselessly on the desk.

Without Angie pouring words in his ears, and with the surprise of the disruption, he lost his focus and swore again.

Trying to compose the number again did not get him any result.

He had to get rid of the dry condom, pull his boxers and pants back on before leaving the room.

“Georges? Do you know why the phone isn’t working anymore?”

“I- uh – no, sir, maybe it’s the weather? I heard thunder outside, and it’s unlikely but it could have hit the line -”

Howard closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Of course its a fucking lightning bolt.”

He couldn’t be with Angie and he couldn’t even call Angie because of something he could not even get mad at. Oh, he could swear all he wanted, but he wouldn’t have the satisfaction of landing a punch on the goddamn wind to express his frustration.

“Maybe I could try to fix it -”

“Don’t bother,” Howard dismissed, his shoulders slumping. “If not the weather, something else will interrupt this call. There’s always something.”

That was official now. He hated Los Angeles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oopsie doopsie, Nano started and now I'm late in posting this chapter ^^'


	26. Angie - Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sweet, sweet freedom!

Angie was only half-surprised when the connection cut. A part of her had expected it, really, and she had a fit of laugh imagining how Howard must have had reacted – on her part, she had had quite a satisfying result to their phone conversation.

Maybe tantalizing him the way she had had been a bit mean. It was the boredom. The boredom was making her cruel. Though, if it hadn’t been for the line cutting off at the most crucial moment, she didn’t think Howard would have complained.

They received a telegram shortly after to inform them that Howard was still doing fine, but that he wouldn’t be home for at least two more days.

Angie was already dying of ennui just thinking about it.

She wasn’t so disappointed when, on the morning of the day after their phone conversation, she found herself retching over the bucket next to her bed she had been convinced would be of no use. Howard seeing her in this state was the last thing she wanted.

She hadn’t even thrown up that much, but she worried it would be enough to convince Jarvis to take her radio away. Thankfully, the butler was kind enough to limit his attention to bringing her a glass of water to rinse her mouth. She took advantage of his presence to beg him for something else to do than just sit there.

It took a lot of negotiating – and affirming that she wouldn’t stop negotiating even if doing so gave her a headache – for Jarvis to relent and tell her that Anna, his wife, could stay at her side.

“I wouldn’t want to be a burden to her -”

“She has some sewing to do and mentioned she could do it by your side, to keep you company.”

“Thank you, Jarvis,” Angie had said with relief.

Anna was great company. She was careful of Angie’s head injury and talked in a soft tone, but didn’t rebuke her for her questions. She was making a new dress for herself – by hand, using materials she had picked gathered especially for her project.

Angie had never done anything more than a bit of repairs when it came to sewing. Her mother was the one who made shirts and skirts at home, while the aspiring actress had worked as an usher in a theater from an early age to help support her family. She listened avidly as Anna described what she was doing though. She seemed to know her way around a needle.

“I hope the doctor will finally lift my sentence when he comes back,” she told Anna.

“Your sentence? Is it really so terrible to have us take care of you?” the redhead asked with humor gleaming in her eyes.

“Of course not! It’s when I’m all alone that it’s awful. And the rehearsal for that play I’m supposed to have a lead role in starts in two weeks! I just got this job, I don’t want to lose it before I even start!”

“I’m sure you’ll get better soon.”

Angie had sighed, then winced as her nausea came back. She didn’t throw up again, but she thought the complete inactivity of those last few days had been worse for her health than if she had taken a walk outside.

Just as Anna said though, it got better soon, right up until she woke up from a nap and started heaving over a bucket again.

She didn’t have the time to think of how thankful she was that Howard wasn’t witnessing her throwing up that she heard his voice from the door.

“Angel?”

Her happiness at having him back was rapidly squashed by knowing that the image of her puking was the first one he had of her after several days apart.

He stepped closer and helped her get the bucket from beside their bed to her lap so she wasn’t bending over to reach it.

“Hi,” she said shakily once she had regained control of her throat.

“Hi,” he said with a fondness that seemed to ignore the state he had found her in.

One of his thumbs was making soothing circles on her back while, with his other hand, he brushed some sweat-stuck strands of hair from her brow.

“You’ve exerted yourself,” he scolded gently. “I thought I told you to rest.”

“I’ve done nothing but rest!” she protested. “I think it might help if I crack open a window,” she started to move out of the bed to do just that, still talking, “the room got stuffy-”

“No, no, no,” he caught her by an elbow and put her back into bed with a gentle pull. “I’ll take care of the window; you don’t move.”

After that, he had turned into a real mother hen. It felt very strange to have him so careful of her every move, like she was going to break if she moved her head too fast or if she stretched her legs too hard.

All in all, a small price to pay when he was by her side. It was a relief to finally have him there; a big part of her missing him also stemmed from a worry she hadn’t recognized before. She remembered the attack well enough now. With nothing else to busy her mind, she had started to imagine the worst scenarios; what if he had been the one injured? What if it had been worst? What if Peggy hadn’t arrived to stop the man who had thrown the explosive and none of them had been able to do anything but run? Would she have run? Could she have, if it had been him, laying in the debris?

“Are you still worried about the theater replacing you?” asked Howard when he saw her deep in thoughts.

“Ah – yes.”

It wasn’t technically a lie; she had had the time to think about that a lot too. She didn’t want to tell him about the nightmarish scenarios her mind came up with while he was away. She knew it would serve no purpose other than to make them both dwell on the past.

Everything was fine now. They were both fine.

“The doctor will come to examine you tomorrow. If you still have nausea, he’ll certainly extend your resting to another week, but the rehearsal won’t begin for another two weeks, correct?

“Yes.”

“So as long as you don’t push yourself, you don’t have any reason not to be fine.”

He squeezed her hand in her and she smiled.

“What would I do without you?”

“Probably sulk a lot about being alone. Jarvis told me you were a very difficult patient.”

“Snitch,” Angie grumbled underneath her breath, making Howard laugh. “Didn’t you say you had a gift for me?” she changed the subject.

She was genuinely curious now that she remembered how the first part of their conversation on the phone had gone. She hadn’t heard at all about the rumors Howard had warned her about, but she supposed it was due to her not being authorized any sort of reading.

“I do have one, but you’ll have to be patient a bit longer.”

“If I’m learning anything from this experience, it’s patience,” Angie sighed.

The doctor’s visit finally arrived with very good news:

“You can go back to being active. You should probably still be careful not to exert yourself with heavy physical activity and you might still experience some nausea, but you’re free to go back to your habits – as long as they don’t include running fifty miles a day.”

“Thank you, doctor!” Angie beamed at him, already getting out of her bed.

She wanted to see something else than the four walls of this room; she’d been waiting to make a tour of the mansion for over a week now.

“Are you certain?” still inquired Howard, following her with worried eyes. “She has been a bit sick those last few days...”

“I’m certain. The fresh air should do Miss Martinelli some good. In fact, I don’t thing lying in bed will do you anything good,” he nodded in her direction.

“That is great news! Come on, Howard, I was promised a tour!”

She had grabbed his hand and started pulling him out the room. He laughed, but halted her a moment:

“Let me just show Dr. Gardner out.”

He eventually did give her a tour. Two floors, an impressive number of bedrooms she almost immediately forgot with just as many bathrooms, a kitchen that could have been staffed with a dozen people, at least three living rooms, and the pool where they had already created some memories.

“Maybe we could try what you suggested last time,” she whispered in his ear, emboldened by her new-found freedom.

She was hugging him from behind, her chin on his shoulder as he showed her the room in the light of day, but he turned around, making her step back. He put his hands on her arms and rubbed them in an affectionate manner – but one that didn’t match the tune of her suggestion.

“I still think that might be a bit too much for now. We’ll have time for that later.”

Angie tried not to show her disappointment, but it was hard when she was suddenly assaulted by doubts. Had he been repelled by the vision of her chucking up or was he just overly concerned by her health?

Whenever she tried suggesting something else after that, he barely reacted, sometimes not even acknowledging her innuendos. She wanted him. She wanted to feel him close to her like they had been before that dinner from hell.

Maybe Howard was punishing her for teasing him on the phone?

She had to know.

In her mind, the best way for Angie that was to confront him head on, so that he wouldn’t politely retreat behind the excuse of her being still too sick.

That night, while he was still busy in the bathroom preparing to join her, she made the bed with care. She slipped out of her nightgown that she bundled and hid underneath the bed, before laying on it, naked.

Then, Angie waited for him, determined to replace the image of her convalescence with another, much more alluring one.


	27. Howard - A Little Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get on with the program already, dude.

Two days of delays should not have felt as long as they did, but without any way to contact Angie, Howard had been pacing like a caged lion in Los Angeles.

The first thing he did upon coming home was to go straight to his and Angie’s room. His intention to kiss her senseless had been dampened when he found her emptying her stomach in a bucket near her bed. As bold as she had been on the phone and as much as the mere sound of her voice had had him in pieces, she didn’t need him to throw himself at her right now.

Didn’t matter how frustrated he had grown with being away from her – especially after the nasty trick she had pulled.

His schedule was blissfully free for the rest of the period of imposed rest by Dr. Gardner, so he got to spend all of his time with her. If only she wasn’t itching to move so much. He was constantly balancing between fondness and worry that she’d worsen her state somewhat.

Despite what the Doctor had said, declaring not long after that she was free to roam, talk, read, laugh – live and be herself, Howard wanted to keep an eye on her a little longer.

The last thing he wanted was for her to feel dizzy, loose her balance and fall down.

 _Just a couple more days_ , he thought as he exited the bathroom, a towel over his head to dry his hair after a quick shower. _Then I’ll relax -_

He pulled the towel out of his hair, by the same gesture revealing Angie expecting him.

Without her clothes.

Laying on their bed.

Completely naked.

Howard forced his jaw closed as he observed the line of her shoulder leading to her arm, draping over her. It rested over her belly button, hiding nothing from the bold curve of her breasts. She was resting on her elbow, turned in his direction, a knowing smile at the corner her lips as she watched him look at her. His eyes trailed further down, over the hill of her hip, and followed the length of her legs. When his eyes hovered over their crossroads, his snapped his head back to her face, hoping this would help him regain control over his thoughts.

“Why aren’t you coming to bed?”

“You -”

He knew exactly what she was doing, but acknowledging it would only make things worse.

“You’re gonna be cold.”

Howard Stark: genius, billionaire, and, not so long ago, playboy.

He hoped the loss of his silver tongue was only a temporary ailment; he used it to get out of most tricky situations. Didn’t look like it would work this time.

“Maybe you could keep me warm,” Angie beckoned him.

… He should have seen that one coming.

“Plus, didn’t you tell me you’d be competing to make me feel better than getting my first role?”

“I- Maybe we should postpone any warming up sessions until after you feel better -”

“Howard.”

She had called his name with serious. She had used a similar tone during their first night, he remembered, when she had made it clear to him exactly what she wanted and that she knew what she was doing.

“If you tell me you don’t want to have sex with me, I’ll put my clothes back on and we’ll just go to sleep. But please, don’t use excuses.”

Howard had never been good at saying no to women – and he was even worse at saying no to Angie now. The edge of doubt in her voice crawled inside his skin like an uncomfortable itch. He never wanted her to think that he felt anything than love and desire for her – and he was doing a terrible job at it right now.

He headed towards the window, checked the lock and closed the curtains.

“What are you doing?” she asked, perplexed.

“Making sure we won’t be bothered,” he replied, going for the key of the door leading to the corridor.

“Ah – does that mean that -”

“I have given up the idea that I had any control in this relationship, yes.”

She chuckled behind his back as he made one last verification.

“Howard – wait, what are you doing in the bathroom? It doesn’t connect with anything else than this room!”

“There’s an open window in here.”

Her chuckle turned into an uncontrollable giggle.

“With our luck, a bird will get inside and ruin the mood with a batting of his wings in our faces, or try to peck our eyes out.”

Angie was now frankly laughing. He smiled himself at seeing her body shaken by hilarity on their bed; she was struggling to catch her breath.

“You can’t be serious?”

He got rid of the top part of his pajamas as put a knee on the bed to get closer.

“I’m being very serious. We’re going to take our time, but if something disturbs us it’s going to take all night and you’re in no state for that.”

“I could go all night -” she tried to protest before he shut her mouth with a kiss.

A plan was forming in his mind. A retribution for the phone call.

“You won’t be saying that for long.”

“What do you me- ah!”

She seemed to forget her question as his hand made its way between her legs. Maybe he still had a little control.


	28. Angie - No Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a competition guys.
> 
> (well, maybe it is)

Any fear Angie might have felt regarding how Howard saw her were assuaged after he started kissing her with hunger. His fingers made quick work of her, turning her into a mewling mess underneath him. There was a desperation in the way she clung to his shoulders, trying to anchor herself to him as she lost her footing.

She was close to complete bliss when his fingers left, and her mewling turned into a hiss.

“Don’t be so impatient,” he teased as he opened the drawer of the bedside table.

She watched in anticipation as he got rid of his pants and boxers to put a condom on, all the while hiding how vexed she was that he didn’t finish first. Maybe he just wanted both of them to come at the same time.

They knew the dance by now; he’d settle inside of her for a few seconds and they’d exchange a long look before they continued. Angie savored those few seconds when they laid with each other, filling her senses with all of him. Skin to skin, eyes to eyes, sex to sex, just existing and connecting. They didn’t always have enough restrain to relish the moment, but when they did it made everything that followed more intense.

Angie shifted underneath him and dug her fingers a bit deeper in his shoulders; as much as she enjoyed having him inside of her, she needed more, especially after he had worked her up just before.

“Howard, what are you waiting for?”

It was only when his answer came under the form of a smirk that she understood what game he was playing.

“I’m taking my time.”

He shifted his hips slowly, moving in and out at a torturous pace. It became fast enough that she could feel the pressure building, but not enough that she could experience release.

“Ah – what are you – why are you doing that?” she asked, now knowing just what he was planning.

“Hmm, I’m not sure a _bad girl_ like you deserves anything less,” he whispered wickedly in her ear.

Angie shivered and grind her teeth as he hit the spot that would have made her undone if he had gone just a bit quicker, one hand still on his back and the other taking a fistful of the pillow behind her head.

She was right after all; he was punishing her.

“Howard, _please_ -”

Her ankles were hooked behind his back, trying to urge him on, but he was not bulging, keeping his steady and maddening rhythm.

“You also have to make up for tempting me earlier. You looked so gorgeous waiting for me...”

His lips brushed against her neck, and she moaned when it matched the slow in and out at a different angle between her legs.

“ _Please_ -”

“Ask me a couple of times more,” he demanded before kissing her lips.

If he hadn’t, she would have begged immediately, but by the time he had stopped her pride had reared its ugly head.

She would not beg him; _he_ would cave in, not her.

She bit her lip to contain another moan and he chuckled.

“If you’re going to take it like that...”

The weight of his body left hers and she shivered from the cold. Emptiness replaced him inside of her. Even as she had clutched his shoulders, he escaped her grasp and she guessed what it meant before she felt his breath brush her thighs. She hadn’t even managed to keep him in place with her heels in his back; she couldn’t maintain any control over her limbs with how distracted she was by the overwhelming sensations.

“Oh Howard you little -” whatever insult she was going to come up with next died down when lips touched her skin and his tongue made its way to her clit.

She took a sharp intake of air at the contact and her hands fell to her sides to bundle the sheets between her fists. Her toes curled and gathered the fabric between them as well, and she bit her lower lip to contain her moan. It didn’t work.

He stopped his attention to laugh against her thigh. Angie’s moan turned into a frustrated growled.

“You just need to say ‘please’ two more times, Angel,” he taunted her.

She was just catching her breath when he returned to his task.

Every time she was about to reach the paroxysm, he backed down. The first plead made it past her lips without her even realizing it.

“Damn it!” she swore, provoking another laugh from her fiancé.

“You could make this much easier on both of us if you stopped being so stubborn.”

She sighed. It was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute but she would have been lying if she hadn’t acknowledged a part of her was enjoying this stupid game.

“I guess I do deserve it – I’m usually the one edging you on...”

He kissed his way up her body, lingering on her right breast and she let go of the sheets to grab his head.

“You’re going to kill me.”

“I’m not too far from that myself,” he muttered.

His erection brushed against her knee, so hard it must have hurt.

“How about we call it a draw for tonight?” she offered. “We could always finish this another time -”

“That’s a brilliant idea.”

He went back to kissing her mouth, giving her a taste herself on his lips, and let himself inside of her again.

This time, there was no holding back. Angie finally managed to cling to him as she had wanted to, getting more desperate to have him close with each thrust to get him closer.

“I love you, I love you,” the words poured out of her mouth on repeat as she finally reached release.

He brought her to climax with the help of his fingers, only to follow quickly after.

It was like a dam that had been creaking for days, about to break, before someone finally decided to torn down the barrier; like water overflowing a valley, a rush fast and powerful that left her feeling emptied.

Howard crashed on the bed next to her, seemingly in a similar state to her.

“Let’s keep round two for another day,” he said, still a little out of breath.

She nodded, then recovered the use of her voice:

“I’m definitely tired now. And I won’t do the phone thing again.”

“Oh – I didn’t say you couldn’t.”

“Really?”

“Just make sure we’re using phones from my residences. The other ones aren’t secured.”

Angie had a fit of giggles – the second that night - at the idea of someone spying on their last phone conversation, still light-headed after their session of love-making. Howard’s arm went behind her neck to get her closer in an embrace and she continued chuckling against his shoulder.

“You’re feeling okay? No headache?” he asked.

“I’m feeling great! I’ll feel even better when I win next round.”

It was his turn to chuckle as he got off the bed to clean up.

“We’ll see. But we might want to avoid doing that too often -”

“Yeah, no, I don’t think I could do that every night,” she agreed from the bed.

She took a turn in the bathroom as well before they laid next to each other.

Howard kissed her forehead and she started drifting to sleep.


	29. Howard - Complacent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to do things the proper way! ... Or at least, to try.

Howard had been worried he had pushed Angie too much and that it might have affected her health, but it seemed sex had been much more curative than anticipated. She was practically beaming.

Sharing his home with her turned out to be even better than he had hoped. Now that she was allowed to leave her room, they shared their breakfast in the dining room in the morning, continued their day in the library before leaving to eat outside around the time for lunch.

They both had a lot of free time on their hands as of now, even if his next week promised to be much busier and that she would soon have to get back to work.

He decided to take advantage of those quiet days to make his proposal – this time, the proper way. The rings had been sent to the New York jewelry store towards the end of Angie’s recovery and had been waiting for him to use them. The time had come.

He was a bit nervous despite himself. Angie had been so quick to accept, and a part of him wondered if it hadn’t been due to her state of confusion from the concussion. Now that she was fully recovered though, he would know without a doubt.

They had come back from their lunch and had settled back into the living room decorated with chiseled wooden panels; a place warm and comforting. Howard had considered making his demand outside, at a restaurant – or organizing a trip to France, maybe make his ‘official’ proposal while they were flying above the Eiffel Tower in his private plane. But then he feared whatever power had decided not to leave them alone would have the plane crash, making his plans to propose and marry her a bit harder to achieve. In the comfort of their own home, at least, he knew he wouldn’t somehow ram his plane into the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. No waiter to barge in the middle of their conversation, and no Peggy coming back home for some files she would have forgotten.

He left the room under the pretense of asking Jarvis to bring them coffee, but headed for the safe hidden in the next room over where he had kept the rings since their arrival. Should Angie not like them, of course, he’d have others made.

She was sitting in one of the armchairs, facing away from him, the script for her upcoming play in her hands. She had started studying it attentively ever since she had received it. He loved how her brow creased in concentration and how her expression always changed into a soft smile at key moments of the story.

When he knelt in front of her, she lifted her eyes from the pages in surprise. She had been so deep in concentration she hadn’t even noticed him entering the room.

“Howard?”

“I thought I ought to ask you this the proper way – and with a proper ring.”

Her eyes went round when he revealed the content of the small box in his hands. He was happy to notice there seemed to be a gleam of appreciation in all of her surprise.

“Angel, would you marry me?”

“Howard, I-”

A knock came at the door.

Of course.

“I forgot to tell Jarvis not to disturb us,” his head hung in defeat.

That was his fault; he had grown complacent, emboldened by the events of the previous night.

“Sir, if I may, you have a visitor – Mr. Martinelli, wait -”

Angie’s brother ignored Jarvis’ polite patience and pushed the door open without waiting for someone inside to allow them in.

He found Howard kneeling in front of Angie in the middle of a very obvious proposal.

 _So much for announcing it in our own terms_ , Howard thought.

At least they hadn’t been busy doing something else that would have made Nino even more incline to murder him. Howard didn’t think killing her brother, even in self-defense, would endear Angie to the idea of marrying him.

“What is going on?” asked the taller man, astonished.

“I was saying yes to Howard’s question,” explained Angie with a note of annoyance, “and how have you still not gotten rid of the habit of coming inside of a room immediately after knocking? Without waiting for an answer?”

Angie was often less on edge than him when it concerned their bad luck with people or even things introducing themselves into their private moments. Howard thought her current irritation could have stemmed from some past incident with Nino. He’d have to ask her about it later.

“You can’t marry him!”

Surprise was not among the many feelings Howard was experiencing in this instant.

“The hell I can’t!” Angie laughed.

Howard had yet to see her not get her way while in a conflict with her brother; as much as he wanted to tell the other man to stuff it, he knew it was better to back down.

He got up from his kneeling position; this could take a while and he’d get cramps if he stayed like this while Angie showed how little her brother’s opinion mattered in this particular situation.

Why was he even there?

“Angie,” Nino tried to reason with a gentle voice, “he’s playing you! I’ve come to tell you about his mistress -”

Angie covered her chuckle with her hand, but the sound had already made it out of her mouth. She threw him a complicit side glance, one that told him she wasn’t even tempted to doubt him. He felt immediate relief and placed his hand on her shoulder, which she covered with her own.

“This is very serious! He’s been buying jewelry to that woman of loose morals -”

“You mean Gillian Bailey? Oh, I know. Well – I wouldn’t call her of _loose morals_ , the worst that she has done was a little peck as far as I’m aware, and even if I don’t approve, I can’t judge her entire character on that one incident.”

“You know? What do you mean, ‘you know’?”

“I never bought that woman – what was her name?” Howard asked to Angie.

He constantly forgot.

“Gillian Bailey,” Angie supplied.

“Yes, her – I’ve never bought her any jewelry. I was too busy picking my girl a ring.” he showed the little box that was still open on the twelve diamond carats ring.

He had picked something showy but ultimately less elaborate than for the wedding ring. It was also much more modest than what he would have initially picked, but he didn’t think Angie would have liked to have to carry twice the weight of her own hand around her finger.

Nino stared at them wordlessly for a couple of seconds, before getting back to his open disapproval:

“You can’t be serious! Angie – you must realize this is all just a game to him!”

Behind him, Howard saw that Jarvis was hovering, ready to restrain him if he tried to come to blows. Howard wondered if Jarvis could really have maintained the muscular man in place for more than a fraction of a second. He appreciated the intention though.

Angie raised an eloquent eyebrow at her brother.

“You seem to know him awfully well for someone who’s only been in the same room as him a couple of times.”

“This is what rich people do – they just marry and divorce – like Humphrey Bogart – or Rita Hayworth!”

“You think I just want a Hollywood marriage?” he asked, a little offended.

“Yes!”

“Nino, I love you but you’re being an idiot,” Angie rolled her eyes.

As was her habit, she then proceeded to completely ignore her brother as she considered the matter settled, and turned to him:

“You’ll meet my parents, won’t you?”

“Of course! I thought it’d be best if we did that before any public announcement, wouldn’t want to blindside them.”

“Angie!” Nino tried to protest again.

He remained unsuccessful.


	30. Howard - Chosen Tyrants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet the parents!

Even if the meeting had been scheduled a week in advance, Howard was still nervous. It was ridiculous; he had met the president, generals and weekly had to deal with the richest men of the country, yet here he was, apprehensive at meeting two every-day people living in a run-down apartment in Queens.

He side-glanced Angie. She didn’t appear to share his apprehension for a second.

“You don’t need to worry – my Mom will love you, I’m sure.”

“Does that mean your father won’t?”

He was only half-way joking.

“Oh, I’m sure he will hate you. Doesn’t matter, he’ll listen to Mom.”

Very reassuring.

“What happens if your mother doesn’t like me then?”

“Then I’m glad we got to spend some time together.”

He wanted to tell her not to speak so lightly about the subject – in fact he wanted her to confirm she was merely jesting – but she had ran up the two steps that lead to the apartment complex’s front door and rang the bell.

“It’s just to tell them we’re already here,” she explained as she pushed the door. “It’s on the second floor, come on!”

Howard followed her. The inside of the building was cleaner than the exterior would lead one to think; whereas the bricks on the front of the building where blackened by the city’s pollution, the corridor was well-lit and only mildly wet. It needed some repairing still, noted Howard. Not anything that couldn’t be fixed with a quick look at the plumbing and a new coat of paint. He’d sent them a few handymen after their visit.

In the middle of climbing the stairs, he stopped to look at a mark on the wall.

“Did you do this?” he called.

Angie, already much farther, stopped and turned around.

“Oh! Yeah, I don’t even see it anymore, it’s been there so long!”

She came closer and observed the drawing, then pointed at it to explain.

“That’s Nino, opening a restaurant, and that’s supposed to be me.”

Howard squinted at the stick figures.

“What’s the giant explosion behind you then?”

“The flash of a camera. I was five, and my drawing technique was never the best,” she laughed as she explained the poor quality of the representation.

“I see it now. Always wanted to be an actress then?”

Angie shrugged, and took his hand to take him up the rest of the stairs.

“I suppose I did – can’t remember a time when it wasn’t the case.”

“And your brother opening a restaurant, that’s still a thing?”

“He’s been saving money for it for the longest time, yeah. With the wedding and the baby, I guess it’ll take him a bit longer, but he’s determined.”

“I could invest in his -”

They were a few steps away from the door he assumed lead to her parents’ apartment. She turned around once again to cut his sentence short:

“Let me stop you right there; if you offer any money to Nino, he’ll bite your head off.”

“Even as a wedding gift?”

Angie was about to respond, but then something passed over her features and she seemed to change her mind.

“… Maybe if you tell Elena first.”

“I’m sensing a pattern with the women of your family.”

“A pattern? What do you mean?”

He put his hands on her hips to pull her a bit closer.

“You’re the ones in charge. Your brother would listen to his wife, your father will accept me if your mother does...”

He nuzzled her neck.

“And I can’t seem to find a way to say no to you.”

Angie chuckled, keeping her voice a whisper.

“You make us sound like tyrants.”

“Hmm, can you be called a tyrant if I’ve chosen you?”

There was no more pondering on the definition of political regimes though, because Howard heard a whisper behind Angie.

He took a step back, feeling like a kid surprised with his hand in the cookie jar, and saw that Mrs. Martinelli had discreetly opened the door of her apartment.

If the petite woman’s eyes were sparkling with amusement, her husband, who stood behind her, was frowning so deep even his bushy mustache seemed to be disapproving.

“Oh, don’t stop on our account,” Angie’s mother waved her hand in their direction.

“Told you she’d like you,” whispered Angie, even as she hadn’t turned to look at her parents yet.

Angie’s mother looked very entertained by the picture they made – it reminded him of the women who giddily exchanged gossip at the fountain where they gathered to clean their laundry, when he was little. An innocent and playful kind of tittle-tattle.

“Mrs. Martinelli, I see where Angie got her good looks,” he stepped in her direction to take her hand and lay a kiss on it, turning on his charms.

It wasn’t empty flattering - she really was beautiful. She had aged gracefully; her gray hair was streaked with elegant strands of white that had been combed back in a plait resting on her shoulder. The wrinkles at the corner of her deep blue eyes indicated that she loved to laugh and her high cheekbones colored with red at his compliment.

“Careful Angie, I might steal him if he keeps this up,” she chuckled in a voice as deep as Angie’s. “And call me Sofia.”

Howard was considering whether to tell her that he might be tempted or that he wouldn’t leave her daughter for any other when the glare of her husband made the words die in his throats.

Arno Martinelli had the same build than his son, but where Nino had reminded Howard of a lame buck who was trying to prove himself, the older man did manage to look intimidating.

“Well, come in, come in, don’t stay out there in the corridor!” Sofia invited them with enthusiasm.

Howard thought he was sure to catch something between the radical temperature that his fiancée’s parents offered. Her mother was warm, her father freezing cold.

He followed Sofia and smirked when he heard Angie giving Arno a quiet scolding behind him. Good to know she had his back.

**Author's Note:**

> Psst, I have a tumblr: https://mad-j-j.tumblr.com/ or simply @mad-j-j


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